


He's been my Queen since we were 16

by larriebane



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bonding, Childhood Friends, Domestic Bliss, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M, Mating, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg Louis, Omega Louis, References to Knotting, Soul Bond, mention of casual louis/stan, self harm if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-15 12:33:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3447326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larriebane/pseuds/larriebane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson had been best friends with his neighbor’s son, Harry, as long as he could remember. The 16-year-old was small for his age and got bullied for being a weak alpha but Louis was there to help him. However, when the omega graduated from college and left for a university in London, he lost all contact with the Curly One. Five years later Louis finds himself back home, stalking a leggy hottie who looks like something from his wet dreams.</p><p> </p><p>  <em>‘When did Curly get so hot?’</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

**OCTOBER 2010**

It had been a good day for Louis – really, he considered himself lucky because not every omega got accepted into the footie team. If he was able keep his game up for the rest of the semester, he would become the captain and thus getting a scholarship for Uni. Only then he would get to do both sports and drama.

Louis considered himself appropriately talented in acting – after several years’ experience of four annoying little sisters to put the blame to – even as he says so himself. He was going to be the best drama teacher ever, probably the most gorgeous there is.

And he wasn’t completely lying. Louis Tomlinson had moderately filled in within the last two years, making his muscles a bit more defined in comparison to those who were a year or two below him but his status made him a bit softer in the ‘brawny’ department. Still, Louis took credit that his biceps looked good, notably when he was wearing a t-shirt. Alas, that was impossible when you were born into a country like UK – definitely not when winter was closing in and you started to freeze your arse off just by waiting for the bus.

He wasn’t sure if he was fond of his butt or not. Sometimes he thought it was inconveniently large, sometimes he didn’t appreciate the attention it got from others and sometimes he thought it was nice to wear tight trousers to accent its shape.

Like his shorts did right now as he walked back inside the school and navigated to the lockers where he was to pick his friend up. He was coming straight from practice, still wearing his jersey that had grass stains littering its white fabric – he didn’t mind getting down and dirty, in many meanings of those words. Louis would have to ask his mother wash it; otherwise it would lie on the floor of his room, muddy, only to be found in the exact place, in the exact condition when he needed it again. He wasn’t known for tidiness.

Unlike his friend who was currently nowhere to be seen. Now, where was the curly little shit?

Louis figured he was a little early as Coach had dismissed them before time, happy for the results of their efficient training. He settled on leaning against his best friend’s locker and received a few pats on the back by his favorite team mates, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik

They were the kind of people that had a good sportsmanship. But then there were the likes of Sebastian and Jonathan, or familiarly Bass and John – the troll lookalikes that took sick pleasure in watching the weaker squirm, changing omegas more often than their boxers and tormenting his Hazza.

And judging from the voices coming from around the corner, they had just caught up with their favorite pastime.

“-the weirdo is coming this way. I mean just looks at him.”

“What does he think he is? Dressing like a lesbian librarian…”

There was a choking laughter and hushing voices. “Shush, or he might hear.”

“Why would I care? His missus is more threatening than the wimp is, and Tommo is an omega.”

 _‘Missus, my ass’_ thought Louis. He was going to show their snapbacks so far up their asses they were going to think twice before upsetting his baby again. He stalked forward, his mind set on sassing the human troll hybrids.

“You might think that’s so cool and all but I think you are just a bunch of cowards with dicks so small they have to bully someone weaker in order to appear more masculine. But FYI, you just failed,” he snapped at their stunned faces.

Louis grabbed Harry’s elbow and proceeded to drag him away from the indignant looking brutes, their fists convulsing. The younger boy was trailing behind him, seemingly unwillingly as something was troubling his mind. Harry’s brow was knitted in concentration, his eyes set on the ground – theoretically a good thing as the boy could trip on his feet even on flat surfaces, but unbearably frustrating in reality as his eyes wouldn’t meet Louis’. He thought he might have spotted a thin tear track going down Harry’s reddened cheeks.

“Really, Harold. You can’t just let them do that.” he sighed, trying to get some connection to his silent friend.

“I know!”

Louis was a tad hurt but he noticed the younger boy regretted snapping at him immediately afterwards.

“It has been going on years! Someone should be informed. I truly don’t understand why you are so strongly against confiding in a teacher…Bass and John are just dickheads, after all. They use omegas like we are disposable cups.”

“Girls are not a game.” said the slow, gradually deepening voice of his Haz.

If Louis had something other than just brotherly, completely platonic feelings towards Harry, he would call dibs on getting the sweetest, most polite alpha you could ever get your hands on, but there had never been any chemistry between them – and probably would never be.

Beside him, Harry sighed dejectedly. He was sure there were many levels on the list of Epic Pitifulness but he would reach the top every damn time. It was not just that he was a failure as an alpha for being so weak – violating the norm of alphas as the protectors of their Mates by letting Louis of all people save his ass every time – and emotional, but the real problem was that he had had a huge, fat crush on him since forever. And Louis would never love him back, not the way Harry does, not the way he _needs_. He would never see Harry as something other than an adorable little brother. A part of him – a stupid part, no doubt – refused to reveal the bullying to the teachers in order to keep pretending that Louis cared for him as more than a friend as he came to the alpha’s rescue.

Harry did not, in all truth, know what he would do after Louis’ inevitable graduation came and his A-levels would be finished. The omega was eighteen years old and would be moving away, possibly all the way to London and forgetting all about a nuisance called Harry Styles.

_‘Out of sight, out of mind…’_

Harry tugged at the bands on his wrists almost unconsciously, making sure they covered the angry red scars that had been there for a while.

They tingled in need of attention.


	2. Chapter 2

**JUNE 2015**

The food that was served on the train had always been shitty but Louis rather thought it had gotten even worse since the last time he had taken a trip back to Doncaster to meet his family. The summer was just starting to warm and his job as a sub-teacher for drama class had gone on hiatus. He did love his job but he had gotten his fill of pre-adolescent students for the late semester.

Fortunately, there was going to be two and a half months of pure holiday to recover from his over dosage before going back to the hell hole called secondary education where every student was made from the same mold yet insisted to be individuals while those who did not fit in were bullied.

He had, after all, seen it himself.

It wasn’t the first time that Louis stopped to think about Harry and where the boy – or nowadays a man as he had turned twenty-one in February – might be, how he was doing and whether he thought about Louis at all.

The train bumped on its track, the carriage trembling slightly and their speed slowed down a little. The intercom declared that the train was approaching Louis’ station where his mother and Dan – his mother had gotten remarried in the five years and had had a new set of twins – were waiting for him. Once the train had reached the platform, Louis struggled with his luggage in the midst of other holidaymakers and a few people on business trips that scampered into masses of people in the station building.

He finally spotted his parents after many sweeps of his moist fringe that insisted on getting in the way of his eyesight.

Louis hugged his mother tight and felt a bit guilty to notice a few new wrinkles around the familiarly smiling eyes that he hadn’t been there to witness forming. “It’s been too long, boobear.”

“I know. I’m still Donny kid at heart, mum. The big bad London hasn’t fully conquered me yet.” he answered and hugged Dan.

“I’m glad to hear. The girls are so excited to see you again and the Twists have asked us to visit as soon as you get back.”

Louis was surprised about the news as the three of them started to tug his things towards the car park, but maybe he shouldn’t have been since his mother hadn’t been the one to give up all contact with their neighbors. In fact, Jay was still very close with Anne Twist and he had seen a thing or two on Twitter.

“Is that a royal ‘we’ or are there specific persons included in the decision.”

“Just our family, Robin and Anne. Oh, and Harry might be there, too, if he isn’t held back by his studies.”

Louis was floored by the fact that Harry was in university now, studying - it had never even entered his mind. It was a hard blow to his already guilt-ridden heart that he had no idea what the Curly One would be studying although he did recall now, from Anne’s tweet that it had something to do with arts. And Louis would not, under any circumstances, admit he had been stalking Harry’s mother’s Twitter account.

Because looking for a Harry Styles was like looking for a needle in a haystack – millions of anonymous users, fake identities. It was just utterly impossible to find his Haz… _if_ he was on Twitter. Louis wished they would get to the car a little sooner as he had a strong urge to hit something, preferably his head.

***

As predicted, there had been an absolute turmoil in the Tomlinson household when Louis had stepped inside his childhood home. Phoebe and Daisy ran down the stair at a breakneck speed, causing him heart palpitations he shouldn’t have felt for the next fifty years, while Lottie and Fizz smiled at him from the couch where they had been entertaining Doris and Ernest – with slim success judging from the piles of toys gathered around the cushions.

They had grown so much, all of them.

He was starting to feel left behind as both sets of twins were gaining on him but luckily the youngest wouldn’t start school for years or he would feel completely insignificant. His closest confidants, Lottie and Fizz, had kept contact with him daily on Twitter. The pictures didn’t do them justice.

While Dan got his bags upstairs to his old room they had left untouched, the four headed flock of girls embraced him warmly. Louis really shouldn’t be gone this long as it was clearly taking a toll on them all.

“It seems to be time to prepare lunch. Girls, could you help me set the table, please?”

Slowly their tangle of limbs loosened and the girls took the cutlery and the plates to the dining room, leaving Louis standing there, looking at his mother curiously. Everyone knew he was hopeless in kitchen, yet there his mother was, giving him the wordless order to help her cut the vegetables for the salad. The only logical answer was that she needed to talk to him in private about something urgent.

“Have you talked to Harry recently?” she started tendentiously.

“I haven’t heard from him in five years. You know that.” Again, there was that pinch of guilt.

“So you haven’t heard what happened after you left?”

Louis was afraid to hear the answer although he reasoned it must be about the bullying. Poor little Harold, he must have been miserable. “No, what happened, then?”

“Anne found out that some older students had been harassing Harry,” Jay put a chopping board and a knife in front of him and Louis started to slice the tomatoes. “…and it had gotten so serious that a teacher had witnessed them hitting him.”

The knife slipped and cut a wound on his finger. He brought it to his mouth and spoke incredulously around it, “Hitting? Hadn’t Harry told Anne about it before that?”

“No, we were both shocked. We had no idea what Harry was going through in school. Finally Anne decided it was best for Harry to change schools to somewhere with a more tolerating atmosphere.”

“So where did he finish his GCSE?”

“In London. Anne and I entertained the idea of you running into each other for years but it seems you two interact in different circles.”

Louis finger was throbbing a matching rhythm with his heart. He hoped these guilt trips would end soon.

“Tell me you still didn’t try to play the little match makers to get us to date each other. I’m sure we would look good and all but, gross, it would be like kissing my sisters…not that I had anything against those chubby cheeks, they were totally _adorkable_.”

Surprisingly, a small smirk made its way to his mother’s face. “You never know what time can change.”

Louis settled for snorting and rolling his eyes in an act of disbelief. If something had been a constant in his life, it had been his Haz – never changing, always naturally charming. He took the bowl of salad to the dining room where Daisy was folding the napkins into funny shapes while Phoebe was encouraging her from the sidelines. Lottie and Fizz were laughing nearby, showing each other their phone screens, having probably just tweeted about their sister’s follies and watching the amount of retweets grow.

“Get the phones off of the table, girls. The Tommo is bringing his masterpiece in.”

That got him the attention of four incredulous eyes. “You? Cooking? Everyone keep calm, it’s just the apocalypse coming.”

“Haha, funny one, Pheebs.”

And so the evening continued like any other day in the history of Normal Events in the Tomlinson Family.

***

Louis stood before the familiar front door of the Twists, too close to it for comfort, but he could not back up as he was carrying Ernest who had wanted to ring the doorbell. When the little lad had reached out for the button, the doorbell had rang like a signal of Louis' impending doom.

Louis didn’t know what had caused the change exactly, but he had never been this nervous to step over this very threshold. The motion had always been done with excitement, impatient to get to his Haz and watch _Grease_ or _Love actually_ – usually just _Grease_ as Louis had loved to sing Danny Zuko’s solos, and still did – and pull an all-nighter in secret, only to fall asleep in the middle of the next day, cuddling together on the sofa while Harry's mother fondly shook her head at them.

Now that he thought about it, that might have been exactly why their parents had thought they would end up together. The thought did nothing to soothe his feeling of apprehension in what would happen if or _when_ he did see his friend again.

The door was opened and Louis thanked the Lord for his drama background as he was able to school his expression into polite interest instead of the downright terror as Anne’s still beautiful face came into their view.

“Jay! Long time no see,” she started to chatter on as she hugged them all, pinching the cheeks of the not-truly-indignant girls and placing a few kisses on the noses of the toddlers. “And Louis, dear God I was almost unable to recognize you. Is that stubble I see?”

“Haven’t shaved since school ended, I’m on a holiday after all.”

He got a kiss on his right cheek and the door was opened wider to let them all in. “Leave your shoes anywhere and make yourself comfortable in the living room. I’ll bring something for us to drink.” And then right as she passed the passed the staircase, “Harry! Could you bring two high chairs from the attic for the little ones?”

“Sure, mum.”

The answer seemed to be muffled a little through the walls. It seemed too deep to fit his Harold. Or maybe he had just woken up; it was just around noon to be honest.

The arm of the couch was left free and he sit down on it. It had a nice view to the kitchen and the TV beside the stairs and he divided his attention between the nature documentary and Anne milling around in the kitchen. Then, there were steps heard through the ceiling as a light brown boot appeared to the gap between the ceiling and the stairs. Even if the boots were scruffy looking, his attention was quickly drawn elsewhere as the legs followed the offending foot wear.

‘Legs’ should be bolded and underlined right now as they just seemed to continue forever. The shins turning into knees, after which came the thighs and the only thing that kept him from leaking buckets of slick at the sight of them was the suppressants he had been obligated to take during the semester – school rules, promoting student safety, apparently.

Louis barely managed to swallow his gasp that was mostly like a snort as he saw that the black jeans were paired with a billowy shirt with pink fucking _flamingos_ on it. The owner of them was carrying the chairs in one hand, tattooed arms in show, and narrowly avoiding upending the nearest plant pot with the chair legs.

“Ooops!”

And, well, Louis was in deep shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're absolutely killing me with your comments, I just had to update early after you put so much pressure on me ;)  
> No idea how long this is going to be but probably under 30K total.
> 
> Have a nice day xx -M


	3. Chapter 3

Louis had sworn five years ago that he would never find Harry attractive in _that_ way. However, as he watched the alpha set down the high chairs, Louis started to have a hard time remembering such nonsense. Harry’s profile had gotten much manlier; the round cheeks gone, leaving smooth planes instead that complimented his sharper jawline – something he had only witnessed on Zayn.

If his thoughts hadn’t been on the gutter earlier, they definitely were after Harry kneeled on the floor, adjusting the chairs making his neckline – he wasn’t sure what to call it, really, as the shirt was unbuttoned obscenely low – lower and reveal two sparrows, a nipple and a top of something that looked like a butterfly.

Jesus, his Harold had suddenly become a weapon, solely made to destroy Louis’ willpower.

The said weapon of mass destruction straightened and came to stand in front of the couch. Louis was relieved to notice this new Harry had a slight hunch in his posture – a flaw in perfection, something that proved he was not seeing things, dreaming up this mirage of a man he had secretly wanted Harry to be.

“Hi, Jay. We haven’t seen in ages,” Harry said and came forward to give an awkward one armed hug to his mother while the girls were fighting for his attention as well. “How are you?”

“I’m feeling great, Harry. You are always such a gentleman. I don’t know if you have officially met my little ones, but this is Doris. Ernest is on Louis’ lap.”

Louis will have to talk to his mother later about introducing him to his doom so negligently.

“She’s gorgeous. Can I hold her?” the alpha asked and so his baby sister was handed over to the walking accident machine and Louis might have been more concerned about Doris’ safety if it wasn’t for the effortless way Harry handled her, supporting her head. No Tomlinson children could be called shy, but it was a sign of some greater power when you throw a baby into a stranger’s arms and she falls asleep there.

Harry was looking at Doris fondly, dimples in show, and the expression was the one he had seen in the mirror many times since he finished his degree in university: a serious case of baby fever. It was something that made your eyes soften, a slow, kind smile appearing on your face; something uncontrollable. And suddenly the baby in Harry’s arms had ringlets of dark brown hair as she rested her dimpled cheek on the alphas chest, blue doe eyes closed.

And then, his Hazza locked his gaze with Louis.

It was a wonder how he hadn’t felt the omegas unwavering staring earlier but maybe – like Louis – he was afraid of the ghosts of the past and what might be found from the other’s eyes, but they shouldn’t have. Even if both of them had changed by the appearance, deep down they were still eighteen and sixteen, best friend for life - only Louis’ thoughts were not exactly of the platonic sort right now.

His focus on the well-known green eyes was quickly broken by the shout of “Table’s set!”

Giving a start, Louis took Ernest in his arms and whisked him to one of the high chairs where the baby promptly started to examine the spoons and soon closing his plump fist around one and waving the spoon in the air, looking proud. Louis snorted when Doris mirrored everything once she was seated next to her brother but his laughter died as he felt Harry bypass him from behind his back.

‘ _Sexual frustration had never been more fitting a word to describe a situation,’_ he thought as tingles spread from the point of contact. He needed to get laid sooner or later, or he just might jump on Curly’s bones – a thought that sent terrifyingly many electrifying signals to places he would rather not have buzzing in excitement in this current situation and company.

Once everyone was seated, Anne began to grill the girls about how their school was going and if they had gotten a good summer job for the next two months. The oldest girls (bless them) had jobs in a local store while the older twins were still a bit too young. After a while, though, as if by some mutual arrangement they had never known to be part of, their mothers succeeded in subtly steering the conversation towards Harry and Louis.

“Did you know that Harry made these cookies?” was Anne’s first comment that started the roundabout journey to what was the Forbidden Conversation Topic in Louis’ books.

“Really? I didn’t know you had taught Harry to bake. He’s seriously gifted.”

Harry ducked his head, a slight pink color spreading on his cheeks. “I got a job at a bakery to pay the tuition fees…”

“It’s impressive. I wish I had a son who would know how to spoil his mother. The only thing I got was ‘how do you whisk?’”

Louis felt fatally hurt at the cackling laughter that followed. Harry didn’t laugh, although Louis wished he had. He couldn’t afford to find him any more endearing as he was in danger of falling for him.

“That is unfortunate. However, I would like for you to join us to the 21st century. Not all omegas are housewives anymore.”

“But who would make you food then?” Jay prodded, hinting something that was yet to be figured out by Louis. “Think about it, young man. You cannot find a better catch than a man who can cook.”

 _‘So they are still trying to set Harry and me up. How laughable.’_ He was about to tell so to Harry, diving into the old routine of secretive glances that used to be their way of telling inside jokes, only to find that Harry was not looking anyone at all. He’s breath hitched. The alpha had covered his face with his hands – several rings adorned them and he hadn’t previously quite noticed how large they were – and he would have understood embarrassment, but he only saw discomfort.

Not much after, Harry rose up mumbling a distracted ‘sorry’ before taking a flight upstairs. A sound of a door closing signaled that he had probably went to his room. Louis glared at the mothers for upsetting his baby – old habits die hard – and almost by practice, went after Harry, having no idea what to do when he reached there.

It was a spontaneous step in the dark and he was known for reckless behavior.

***

Harry’s room hadn’t changed. It was like the time had frozen in both of their rooms, leaving the band posters untouched on the walls. What did appear new, were the dozens of black and white photos of nature, people or, on a few occasions, a shiitake mushroom – completely ridiculous, yet he couldn’t stop smiling at Curly’s quirkiness.

Harry had let him in his room easily enough, perhaps looking a bit too surprised to be similar to the old days. Louis had shortly authorized himself a seat on the bed, looking around until the silence grew too uncomfortable to ignore.

“I swear they have been progressively getting worse but this was the cherry on top.”

Harry seemed to give a start, having not expected Louis to get straight into business. “That wasn’t the problem, though.”

Louis felt his eyebrows rise. “Oh, do tell me your reason, then. Why am I wasting my time here when I would be eating those delicious cookies right now?”

There was the familiar sound of Harry suppressing his laugh and failing at pretending to look unamused. Louis counted that as a success. Louis 1 – 0 Harry.

“Do you really think they were good?”

“Of course I did,” Louis had no idea why Curls sounded so hopeful as he got a seat beside him. “So did everyone else.”

“Yes, but only you would be truthful. You have always said everything that was on your mind, not pointlessly sparing anyone’s feelings. How are you supposed to learn, if you only get, like, positive feedback about something shitty.”

Louis' heart was positively swelling because of the overload of the adorable, big goof he received, now around the size of honeydew. Without further thinking, he threw a foot over Harry’s lap and hugged him from the side, burying his face into the familiar warmth. From where his head rested against Harry’s now firmer chest, he could listen to the soft, steady heartbeat that he hadn’t heard for years. Maybe just know realizing – or stopped denying – that he had needed to hear it for so long. Harry’s arms wrapped around him after a little delay, but not short of sentiment as he nosed Louis' neck.

“I missed you.” Louis mumbled to an especially pink flamingo on the shirt.

“I missed you more.” Harry answered, starting their old competition they had always begun after they hadn’t seen each other for a while.

“What are we? Nine?”

A deep chuckle rumbled under his ear. “I wouldn’t mind. Everything was easier back then. It would be wonderful to be so naïve again, to only care about whether you get to watch the newest episode of Sponge Bob or not.”

That sounded far too wry coming from his Hazza. He started to wonder what had happened in London to make him so subdued compared to the young boy he knew. If someone had broken his baby’s heart, he was going to hunt them down.

“Lou!” A shout came from downstairs. Louis found himself reluctant to pull away from where he had been running his hands through the alpha’s long hair, making the younger man purr in content. With a herculean effort, he pulled himself to the door, opening in a little.

“What?” he shouted through the small gap.

“We are leaving, honey. It’s getting close to naptime and the little ones are tired. You can stay for longer if you want.”

He turned to Harry who had his back turned on Louis. “Funny, how it sounds like we are still in school and they've given us curfews.”

“…Yeah…but maybe you should leave with them.”

He hated how much it sounded like a dismissal. Maybe Harry had changed more than he thought.

***

Louis was looking at the foreign number on his phone once again. It was not that he didn’t know who the number belonged to, no. He had managed to get it from Anne before they left and now he was at a pub, drinking away his sorrows with his ex-footie mate, Stan.

He had contacted him right after his thoughts had gotten too grim because of Harry and the alpha's barely concealed dismissive tone. It had just showed Louis how far they had gotten from their friendship: where once had been laughter and fun, was now bitter thoughts and heavy sarcasm. Perhaps they just weren’t meant to be anymore. And the longer he thought about it, the more it seemed like Harry had been distant as early as the graduation, then giving up all contact and now practically shooing his ex-BFF cold heartedly out of his house.

Most of that was just the scotch speaking, but drunken thoughts often had a sober origin. So he drank more.

Stan and he had never been as close as Louis had been with Harry. Even though they shared the same sport and their heats and ruts, there had never been the same emotional connection. Speaking of which, Stan’s rut was starting soon and he had been asking Louis if he could be of assistance. It wasn’t a good thing to make decisions while drunk as those where the ones you regretted the most.

“I’ll check my calendar,” he answered and pretended to search for it in his drunken stupor while Stan giggled on a barstool next to him, face reddened. “I think I might manage it, yeah. I’m a busy man meself but there’s always room for handsome young men.”

“You. Are. Funny. Those drama studies have clearly improved your talents.”

Louis mimicked tipping his imaginary hat at the compliment and they both had hard time at breathing while clutching their stomachs in laughter. Everything was funnier when you were drunk and that was basically the whole reason for drinking.

“Let’s dance!” Louis' happy shout was almost drowned into the booming music of the place. It had gotten gradually louder and more raucous as the hours ticked by. He threw his body into the rhythm of the bass and grinded on his drunk dance partner.

“Ahh… watch what you do with that ass of yours, Tommo. I don’t want to jizz in my jeans in front of all these people.”

“Why don’t you take me straight to your place, then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there,  
> It's weekend and I'm feeling very productive (Also don't get too used to it) so here is chapter 3. Still not longer than 2K but I swear Ch 4 is going to be at least 2,5K :)  
> A massive thank you for all those comments, they truly keep me going!
> 
> Love xx -M


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2,5K as promised

Louis woke up slowly, feeling drowsy as he had, for the past two days, surrendered to the haze of hormones and sex. It was freeing to just let go like that, particularly when you had been on suppressive medication since last September. In the end, their bodies were made for reproducing, and preventing that from happening was going against the laws of nature and often left omegas – and alphas, but their medication was more uncommon – feeling empty, incomplete.

Louis couldn’t wait for the day when the effects were fully gone and he would get to enjoy the freedom of heats again. They had needed to replace the slick with lube and it just wasn’t the real thing and left him sorer than usual as he half-limped to the kitchen where his not yet fully dresses friend was making them breakfast.

“Sorry it didn’t cross my mind that you would be still under the effect of the suppressants before I proposed this…” Stan grimaced. “Is it bad?”

“I’ll manage. Besides, I am able to say no if I need to.”

“Sure,” his friend said, stirring the food with a spatula. “Who’s ‘Haz’?”

Louis frowned. “Harry Styles, you knew him. Why?”

“The one who followed you around like a lost puppy for years? How odd would it be if I mentioned hearing you moan his name last night?”

Louis choked on his own spit. “Super odd,” he wheezed.

A plate full of scrambled eggs was put in front of him on the countertop. “I don’t have a dining table but I think we manage to eat while standing.”

“Mmmhmm,” he said through mouthful of food and continued after swallowing. “I will manage just fine if you let me to use the shower and borrow a shirt.”

“Of course. It’s my turn to help.” Stan left the room and came back with a dark blue hoodie and a towel. “Any shampoos you find from there, you can use, although I won’t vouch for being high on maintenance.”

Stan did speak the truth.

After having squeezed the shit put of the nearly empty shampoo bottles, Louis put on the hoodie to conserve the warmth the shower had provided. It was too big on him, the long sleeves reaching the ends of his fingers and it smelled strongly of alpha. At least it would keep the opportunists away if they thought he had a boyfriend when he went to buy some necessities.

He set off to the pharmacy, wishing good day for Stan and walked in the streets, warm summer air brushing his hair off his forehead. The air conditioning was a bit over the top inside the store and he navigated to the birth control -aisle quickly.  They were obligatory for when his heats started again, after all, he wouldn’t want to be knocked up by his friend. Now, some other friend on the other hand…

“Lou?”

Speak of the devil. Louis turned around with a package of birth control in hand and faced a very confused Harry, looking gorgeous in black skinny jeans and a normal t-shirt. He was definitely getting used to this dress style after the era of Hollister and Jack Wills – nothing wrong with the brands; they just hid Curly’s best aspects.

To be honest, he found it quite hard to keep his eyes on the level of Harry’s face when his crotch showed a rather prominent bulge as if something huge was being kept restrained singly by the zipper – and there probably was. Never before had he thought about what his Hazza might be packing and startled from his vulgar thoughts, he snapped back to focus.

“Harry! This is a pleasant surprise. I was just-,” he started, glancing down at his purchase and stopped dead as he realized what it must look like: he was alone, with a sex hair, reeking of alpha, wearing said alpha’s clothes and buying birth control at noon. You would have to be a rocket scientist to put the things together. “…shopping” he finished feebly.

“I see…” Harry’s tone was getting close to dismissive again so he scrambled for his last chance at getting things straight. Harry was not the opportunist he had wanted to get off his back.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

Clearly the wrong thing to say. “That’s nice to hear. Say hello to your boyfriend for me.” Harry remarked and left to the cash register. “See you around.”

Louis hated his life.

***

No matter how much Louis had scolded himself, it was nothing in comparison to the disappointed look his mother gave him as he came through the front door. He had gotten ‘the talk’ from her earlier but it seemed that he was going to get it again. The girls, sensing their mother was in point of explosion, slithered upstairs, no doubt listening in the best they could from a safe distance.

“I am truly disheartened how you throw away the best chances in your life only to get under the sheets with someone who you would never Bond with.” Jay was starting to warm up and took a sinister pose with her arms folded. “You are turning twenty-four this year. At your age I was already with my first mate and expecting you. How is it that you prefer uncommitted shag when you could have a loving relationship? What have I done wrong to make you like this?” his mother begged, voice getting a bit tearful to the end and Louis was desperately trying to stop his mother from crying.

“I’m not doing by choice, mum. Please know that. I just haven’t found the right one yet.”

“Then please do tell what this _right one_ is like.” she demanded. “I am entitled to think you don’t have what it takes to recognize a potential Mate when you see one, or are your expectations simply too high. You even turned our lovely Harry down.”

“Turned down? Harry?! How on earth do you turn down someone who doesn’t fancy you in the first place?”

Louis was getting confused, and so was his mother.

“I…We…Anne and I thought Harry had finally confided in you about his feelings. When he seemed so sad at your graduation, we thought you had turned him down.”

“The only confession of love I have gotten from Harry was when he had the silly, little crush on me. And he was fourteen.” His mother looked ready to interpose, so he kept going, “We talked about it, had a few good laughs over it. That was it and we both grew up.”

After that, his mother appeared to give in, turning back to her chores and muttering something that sounded a lot like _‘blind, oblivious idiots’_. Louis was seriously getting fed up about all the drama going around the neighborhood lately, so he called his two friends, his favorites when it came to a sports evening. There was an answer after fourth ring.

 _“You little shit.”_ And well, not the sort of greeting he had expected.

“What have I done now, Li?”

 _“I haven’t heard from you for a week, Tomlinson,_ week, _and then someone tells me you’ve been here, in Donny for almost four days. It obviously hadn’t gone through your thick skull to inform us.”_ Liam’s irritated voice came through the phone.

“Oopsie. Well, I am informing you now so how about a quick game of footie at the park. We can watch the ManU game after it.”

 _“Sounds like a plan. But you’ll buy the snacks and the beer.”_ The call ended. Louis was really the best of friends, visibly when it came to ruffling the fur of the puppy-like Liam Payne. The omega really owed to Zayn for keeping his limbs intact.

***

Louis Tomlinson found himself, for the first time in his life, unable to focus on the game – although Manchester United was playing, his priorities were elsewhere: namely, the curly alpha that had leveled up from a cutie to a hottie in five years flat. Louis had been able to forget everything else while they were kicking the ball back and forth but as soon as they started to watch the game, a raucous blond beta had joined the two alphas and the omega.

Firstly, the reason wasn’t the person, Niall, himself as he proved out to be as big an enthusiast as the three of them. Secondly, you were quickly drawn to his loud laugh and joyous attitude, so that wasn’t what casted a cloud over his perfect evening, either. Thirdly, as mad as he was about the Blondie stealing his last slice of pizza, he was more furious about the fact the Irishman dragged in Louis’ personal torturer.

Harry _bloody_ Styles.

Never before had there been a quintet this strange: a beta who had been on the school’s tennis team and who was nowadays a P.E. teacher; an ex-footie captain who taught drama for teenagers; two of his ex-team mates who owned a comic book store nearby; and an alpha who had been bullied by the aforementioned footie team and was still in Uni finishing who knows what. And yet, they fit in like they had been hanging out for years, their characters complimenting each other perfectly.

Where Louis was flamboyant, Zayn was more subdued and when Liam took things too seriously there was Niall to laugh things off. On the occasions when they got on each other’s nerves, there was Harry to break the argument. The dream team, really.

Speaking of teams, he hadn’t watched the TV at all on the first half, which pretty much meant he had been staring at Harry for forty-five minutes. Pathetic. But he couldn’t help that he was captivated by the things that had changed in him because in the place of the insecure ‘ _little bother’_ was now a more confident man who had no rush to do things his way – including his dress style, apparently.

Louis felt his expression change into one of utter incredulity as Curly commented about a _‘biased bastard’_ with the others as the ref gave a yellow card to the wrong player. “Since when have you been interested in footie, Harold?”

“Since my best friend was in the football team which is, like, forever.” Harry said, looking a bit hurt that his efforts at trying to impress Louis by his sports knowledge were being questioned so cruelly. “I used to come to watch all your games.”

Louis did remember, “I rather thought you wouldn’t discern corner kick from a penalty kick.” A pout appeared on Harry’s face, the alpha looked severely insulted. The wobbling lower lip was still, after years, his greatest weakness as he spread his arms to invite the alpha for a cuddle, “C’mon, Curls.” Harry sagged against the omega’s side, making a happy sound like a kid that had just gotten a bit extra to his weekly allowance – Louis rather enjoyed it too as the alpha’s scent wrapped around him. He felt safe.

He hadn’t really taken notice when exactly he had started to make these content little sighs but suddenly there were three other bodies on top of them as the game went into a half-time break, nearly crushing him under all the weight.

“You know, Tommo,” Liam started first. “We seriously thought you would watch the game when you suggested the lads’ night.”

“Hear, hear,” continued Niall, adding some opinions of his own. “But I understand our Hazza’s eyes are as green as the best artificial turf and his lashes as long as the touchlines-” At this point Louis had had really considered pouring the bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale over the beta and acted on it shortly after.

“B-b,” Niall gurgled through the rivers of beer flowing down his chin, “…barbarian!”

The pile of men dissolved as the omega ran away, giggling victoriously as the others chased after him, clothes speckled with drops of ale.

***

Louis woke up with a gasp, the events of the dream still sending shivers down his spine, a buzzing of his nerves centralized between his legs. He shifted, feeling uncomfortable as his shirt and the sheets were pressed to his skin, startlingly wet. He couldn’t have been sweating that much…

 _‘Fuck, that’s definitely slick.’_ Louis thought as he rolled off the bed, ripping off all the sheets on it and stuffed them into the hamper, feeling proud of reaching such stage of tidiness. Soon his face twisted in disdain as his eyes came to rest on his digital clock, its glowing numbers displaying 6 AM. Far too early to actually do anything more productive than dragging himself into the shower and take a first dose of the birth control pills, now that he was back on his natural cycle.

In the bathroom Louis stopped in front of the mirror but had no idea what had made him do so. It was like he had unconsciously needed to make sure whether there were any marks left from the night – a scratch of nails on his chest, love bites around his shoulders and neck – yet of course there wasn’t. It had been just a dream after all. As he dragged his gaze across his features, he noticed the flushed cheeks and a spark in his eyes that he hadn’t seen for nine months. All of them were consequence of the dream, full of swallows, butterflies and deep moans – and in other words, Harry. Harry, who had without knowing and without really doing anything, triggered his hormone production into overdrive and simultaneously ended the effect of Louis suppressants. It was a scary thought.

_‘How do you go from best friends to wanting the said best friend bend you over the sink and thrust so hard and deep the cabinets will leave bruises to your hips?’_

Louis was confused where he and Harry stood after all that had happened during the week. Their encounters had varied between the cold dismissals to the cuddling that always felt like the old times and he needed answers. Preferably now rather than later – he hated not knowing something. Therefore, he decided to make a little visit to the Twists as Harry’s new number, the one Louis had gotten from Anne, was left unanswered.

He should have known better than to go knocking on Harry’s door when his suppressive medication had just lost its impact with no knowledge of the timing of both of their mating cycles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo,  
> Here it is. It's been lying arond finished for about a day and since ch 5 was still in process, I couldn't give it to you earlier.  
> PS: hope you weren't too upset about Lou, it will be our Hazza's turn soon enough
> 
> Enjoy xx -M


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for smut, it gets pretty heated at the end.  
> Not explicit thou, I was out of control and it's just 1K of Harry's body worship... sorry, not sorry ;)

The real reason behind the elusiveness was quickly discovered as Louis found Harry in the Twists’ backyard, keeping a close eye on a girl, not much older than four. He would have understood the importance of fresh air – a reprieve from the noise that taxes the sensitive nerves, stripping of negative energy, green spaces putting the brain into a meditative state et cetera – but it all was negated by the presence of a rival.

It was funny, really, because Louis had never considered other omegas as contestants for he had usually got undivided attention from alphas (i. e. Harry) but now that Curly had gotten a generous dose of Summer Hottie Philter, suddenly there were others on the waiting line. Louis was _not_ bitter; he just thought he had had some sort of VIP ticket to get past the line-up, only to find that this spoiled, selfish bitch was trying to charm his Hazza’s pants off.

“Harreh!” Louis shouted to get the alpha’s attention where it belonged.

“Louis!” Harry looked positively delighted and Louis gave a despising look at the _grandpa,_ using his whole storage of drama skills to get his point across: _‘See? Now, give way to the real deal, peasant.’_

The old man had the guts to snort at him. “You know, Harry-dear, I all of a sudden remembered I have to be somewhere else. Say my best wishes and apologizes for Lux’s mother.” But at least he knew when to back down, even though the process was done with amateurish hustle.

“Already? You barely spent any time with this princess…” Harry pouted and straightened a flower crown on top of the little girl’s – Lux, presumably – blond locks.

“I would rather not have her regurgitate on my brand new Levi Strauss & Co.”

“She’s in primary school, Nick. You can’t say things like that.” Harry chided while trying to cover Lux’s ears from the asshole’s vile opinions. Louis thought the competition was, in plain English, over because if there was something to make his Haz dislike someone, it was by saying foul things about babies.

For good measure, Louis said, “I would say that’s your cue to leave but I don’t want to sound rude. So, ta!”

He really did not have patience for omegas who were still trying to keep up with the life even when the only thing they got into a standing position was their hair – if you caught his drift – and even that with the help of a few dozen gels, enough to cause ozone depletion. After the Mr. Impotence left, Louis and Harry played hide and seek and other activities with Lux. The omega was quickly starting to get fond of her.

“How exactly did you get to be blessed with such responsibility?” Louis asked after they had left their princess for a nap and were sitting on the living room.

“Hmmh?” Harry answered, looking distracted by his thoughts. Usually it didn’t mean good. “Oh, Lux. Her parents made me her godfather.”

“Congratulations, Curly.” he said but when the nick name didn’t get its answering dimple, he got a bit anxious. “What’s wrong?”

The response came in the form of a scoff that was too close to the infamous cold tone for Louis’ comfort. “What isn’t wrong, Louis!? We haven’t talked for five years and here you are giving me mixed signals.” He didn’t know if he was glad that Harry hadn’t continued hiding his feelings, or mad that it was sadness that the alpha was feeling.

“I could say the same about you. Either you are distant, or you are acting like nothing’s changed. Do you want me around or not?”

“Having you around is certainly not helping me to get over you!”

***

There was a deathly silence as the two former best mates looked each other, both of their faces pale and shocked – from different reasons, though. Louis couldn’t believe his ears as the words ‘getting over’ had slipped from his boy’s mouth and judging from Harry’s reaction, he had not wanted blurt it out like that. But since the cat was out of the bag, they might as well discuss about the elephant in the room.

“Are…,” Louis started but his voice came much weaker than what he had intended – probably because of the shock. “Are you saying you…had feelings for me? Like, deeper than the crush seven years ago.”

“I never got over the crush. It just got stronger, and stronger.” Harry confessed, looking miserable and avoiding Louis by inspecting the sofa. It was like he had lost all the confidence he had built in the past five years at once. “I know you don’t feel the same-“

“Harry,” Louis interrupted. “You shouldn’t underestimate my feelings. I can’t say anything tangible about them right now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have them in future.” The rising hope was starting to make the alpha’s eyes greener. “What I see in you, is the sweetest and most polite alpha I have ever known and I think with some courting, I will be quite persuaded to like you back.”

Harry’s cheeks looked like they were going to split, considering the newly achieved record depth of his dimples. Now that Louis thought about it, he hadn’t seen the poor thing smiling so widely for almost ten years. He couldn’t help but wonder whether Harry’s crush had developed right then, at the age of twelve, and after the burden of unrequitedness, the alpha had started to lose his most charming countenance. However, there will always come the time when you stop chasing after the stars and realize you had already owned the moon.

Louis wouldn’t let his moon slip through his fingers. _Again_.

“Does this mean I get to take you on a date? Tomorrow?”

There was no way Louis would be bursting his Hazza’s bubble, albeit the time of the date was quite soon – not enough for him to stomach these new changes – so he answered in the most diplomatic way possible.

“Straightforward, I see… Yeah, you do get to take me to a date. But only if we cuddle and watch Grease before Lux’s parents arrive.”

To be honest, it wasn’t even a challenging condition as Harry was more than happy to comply.

***

Not for the first time, Louis found himself cursing about the fact Harry had been a late bloomer. This time, it was because he had never witnessed Harry’s ruts – those having started _after_ Louis left for London – and was thus incapable to detect the signs. And because of that, they had ended up into this particular situation.

Lou and Tom had come to collect Lux just as their movie had ended. They were a bit sad to let the little one go but after she told her parents how nice time it had been, Harry was given many more babysitting hours. There also were several curious glances given to Louis – it seemed like Lou had known about the alpha’s feelings and had heard a lot about Louis – and Harry all but preened under the notion that he was now closer to having a Mate than the last time he had seen the couple. It was almost as hilarious as it had been to listen Curly sing Sandy’s solos with that voice of his – the contrast even more humorous now that his voice had only deepened.

A voice that was moaning pornographically straight to his ear from behind him.

They had continued their cuddle since Harry’s parents would be working late and hence falling asleep on the couch later on, only to be awakened by the alpha’s rut. Harry himself was reaching a hazy stage where he wasn’t exactly awake, only partially conscious, instinct telling him to rut against the omega near him. It definitely didn’t help the situation that Louis was now very much able to produce slick – something that was soaking its way through his sweats at that very moment, making Harry’s groans only deepen because of its scent.

Louis had never slept with anyone who he was as sexually attracted as he was to Harry, and so he was not really at his own control as he arched his back and pushed his bum towards the alpha. If they continued this any longer, they would be too far gone to put a stop to it – and alarmingly, Louis didn’t find it in himself to care. The only reason to quit doing what at the moment felt so undeniably good, was that fact that he wouldn’t want their first to happen because of the vague decision making of a rut.

Louis was already resigned to be forcefully dragged upstairs and knotted, hot and sloppy, against the bedroom wall. That was what he had come to expect, that was what they all did.

Apparently Harry had other ideas.

With an admirable effort, the alpha seemed to forcefully shake himself back to focus, conscious enough to echo Louis’s earlier thoughts. “I don’t think it will be good for us if you stay here. I don’t want it to happen like this.”

“I know,” as much as Louis agreed with him, his body was persuading him to stay around, wait for the alphas last ounce of will to snap, to get what the omega in him desired. “But I could help you in other ways.”

That seemed to be the last straw as he was shortly guided upstairs by Harry who, after the door of his room was locked with a snap, collapsed on the bed, looking like the demon of lust as he writhed for some friction to relieve his burning nerve ends. Clothing was quickly removed, shame thrown to the wind as Harry focused on his sole target of _getting off_. And while Louis had seen Harry in minimal clothing – the kid had just _loved_ to show off his adorable body with slight baby fat – he had not prepared to see this Harry.

The lower Louis looked, the more he started to question his strength of will: under the collarbones and swallows he had previously taken the liberty to drool after, was indeed a tattoo of a butterfly. It seemed funny in a grown man’s body but somehow it still managed to morph into something suitable, paired with the big goof’s quirkiness, and in some twisted sort of way, Louis sincerely wanted to rub one off on it.

When he had sorted out this new kink – butterfly tattoo fetish, possibly – of his, Louis was able to continue his vertical journey down to the Promised Land. Under the alpha’s navel, he found two ferns that brought out the V-shape of the muscles – not too defined but evidently there, like Harry’s other muscles – and between them, the happy trail.

Louis flicked the line of hair with his index finger, being the tease he was known to be, with a cocky smile gracing his features. Before he had time to prolong his actions and hear the alpha’s protests, he was pulled down on top of Harry.

“Tsk, tsk. I’m in charge of this.” Louis said and slapped Harry’s hand from his behind with a decisive flick of his wrist and a bit of mischief in the eyes. “And you will stay there and _be nice_.”

***

They were lying side by side on Harry’s wide bed; covers messed up tolerably for such heated happenings, listening to their heartrates slowing down in sync. Louis had never felt like this – just being still, unhurried, not needing to move anywhere – which was quite the feat considering his character. It was vastly different from the other times and he wondered if Harry had ever shared his ruts with someone. Somehow he found himself both wanting and not wanting to know.

Suddenly Louis was reminded of the last time they had seen.

“Oh, by the way, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Harry brushed his nose against his jugular and murmured, ”I know. I can’t smell anyone on you. I was just so…affected by you at the pharmacy. Seeing you so, so…sated because of someone else. It sounds terribly selfish, doesn’t it?” He was notably less delirious now that the worst edge had been taken care of.

“Not at all. It could happen to anyone.” Then he was struck with an idea, never the one to let an opportunity to tease people, slip. “Do I look suitably sated now? I must say, Curly, that you are much bigger on the size department.”

The answering blush was both predictable and rewarding but the smirk that grazed his lips was something he had not expected – his boy did not _smirk_. But maybe it was time to finally leave the ‘little brother’ behind and embrace this new, more audacious and updated version of Harry Styles.

“So you won’t continue it with him?”

Louis pretended to consider it, a bit overdoing the ‘ _I’m thinking’_ –gesture and scratching his stubble. “Nah, I’m omega enough to have materialist tendencies and because of that, I’ll settle for the larger.”

The subsequent laughing was silences when they heard voices downstairs.

“That must me mum and Robin. Damn it, I had promised to make them lunch because they were working so late.”

“Well, you had a good reason for forgetting.” Louis was more nervous about the fact what might happen when they realized he was there, too.

Footsteps were heard coming upstairs and soon a voice behind the door said, _“Honey, are you alright?”_

“Yes, mum. My rut started early.” They were yet to move from their positions on the bed – the door was locked after all.

_“That’s odd. Was Lux here?”_

“Yeah, it was a blast. Lou and Tom took her home just before this started.” Louis admired the slow smile that appeared on Curly’s – or rather Sex Hair’s – face at the mention of the little princess.

_“Did they forget something? There was a sweater downstairs on the sofa. A green Adidas, no zipper.”_

Harry grimaced beside him, both knowing he was shit at lying, especially to those he didn’t want to lie in the first place. “Uhhhh…”

 _“Or do you have someone over?”_ And, oh well, the lying didn’t matter now that they were busted. But then, _“I’ll leave you two alone.”_

Too easy. Was she suspecting something?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone  
> Ummmm, I'm afraid there wasn't any real smut...it's not the type I feel confident writing but describing sexual frustration is fun. Hopefully it wasn't a toal waste of your time :P
> 
> PS: I might have squealed like a proper fangirl at your comments, a massive thank you again. You guys keep me writing!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A date and a surprising turn of events.

Louis Tomlinson would _not_ do the walk of shame.

He had to admit it was the coward’s way but he just wasn’t able to go through that door and face the unavoidable questions – he had spent the night with Harry, sharing the tray of food Anne left behind the door for them to eat and waited for the alpha’s parents to leave the house for work before he would attempt to sneak back home. And so, just as the front door snapped shut, Louis opened the door of Harry’s room and made his way into the bathroom.

The cold splash of water against his face felt invigorating; helping him to plan the excuse he would undoubtedly need to come up with in front of his mother’s interrogating. Louis was twenty-three years old but there still were situations where you sincerely had to hand over the power, back to the arms it had belonged to for the biggest part of his life – situations such as blowing your former best mate who you are kind off/not really/unofficially dating right now without telling your mother you are not coming back home for the night.

Not that they would be able to go to the date today as Harry’s rut needs at least an another day to subside, a fact that had made Louis receive lots of groaning and complaining from the big baby. He would be more emphatic about it all if it wasn’t for the hickey the size of London Eye on his neck that would make his task of looking innocent about a thousand times harder.

When he got back to Harry’s room to collect his things – it was truly a talent to get everything in a mess in one measly night – he found the curly lad hunched over his phone. As he peeked over his shoulder, the twitter app was on and, apparently, Harry had just tweeted something along: _“A moment, a love, a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry, our rights, our wrongs…A Moment AAHHHHHH!!”_

“No wonder I didn’t manage to track down your twitter. I didn’t type ‘stupid hipster shit’ into the search field.”

Harry didn’t look offended about the fond slight at all – actually, he was looking rather proud of something, like he had just heard he had starred in total of three wet dreams of Louis’. “You had been looking for my account? Why?”

“Did I say that? I don’t think so.” And to further derail the alpha’s thoughts, Louis said, “You could take me out for lunch the day after tomorrow, by the way. I’d love pizza.”

“Never take someone for a pizza on a first date.” Curly said with a serious expression. “ _I_ was the one who asked _you_ out so I get to choose the place. It will be a surprise.”

Ruffling his hand through the brown mass of curls, Louis took off, leaving the room with a shout off “If you take us somewhere where they feed people with organic guacamole, we are _so done._ ”

***

Apparently, there had been a conspiracy going on behind Louis’ back because as soon as he had come in contact with his mother, she had stared the _‘I want grandchildren before I’m old and wrinkly’_ –talk again. With utmost disappointment she had told him how she had heard from Anne that his hoodie was found on their couch and that both of the women had come to the conclusion that Louis had slept with Harry while the younger man was having a rut – which was where most of the letdown had been coming from.

“I can’t believe you would do such thing to Harry. Playing with someone’s feelings and sleeping around is not good for you. It’s no good for anyone.” his mother had said.

“I _didn’t_ sleep with Harry!” There had been giggling on the other side of the bedroom door. Louis had felt his cheeks heat up as he had realized the girls were listening in and decided to spill the beans to avoid further embarrassment. “In fact, we have a date tomorrow.”

And that had led to the current situation: he had just upended the contents of his dresser while mentally freaking out about not having anything date-worthy to wear (as he had expected to return to London still very much Mateless).  Louis’ mother was delighted, of course, having spread the gossip to the Twists as soon as the truth got past his lips, and was humming around the household, doing chores. She had volunteered to help him with his clothes problem but…

_‘Jesus… I’m not a teenager fretting over their prom or summat. I’m twenty and I don’t give a fuck.’_

When he finally – with three minutes to spare, he was proud of himself for conquering his habit of procrastination – descended the stairs, he was wearing his comfortable jeans jacket over a white shirt and jeans that complimented his curves. Simple but drool-worthy.

It was only when Harry’s Range Rover showed up to the front of the house and Harry himself climbed off the car, looking hot as hell, that he started to have doubts. Not about his clothes, not about the date itself, just feeling unsure whether he would be able to keep his hands for himself and not start his heat prematurely in the middle of a restaurant that would be full of people.

Damn all Saturdays.

As Louis got a closer look of the alpha, he saw that the brown jacket he had thrown over his button up had leopard print. He swore he had seen many boots like that on the Twists’ entryway, too many for them all to belong to Harry and Louis rather thought he had gotten the boots obsession from Anne – quirkiness ran in the family, apparently. Unfortunately his family was only known for matchmaking and so he was pushed out of the door with barely contained glee and many wishes for a good date. Louis felt uncomfortable until the two of them were safely in the car and on their way to the restaurant.

“For someone who has seven children, my mother’s baby fever is uncontrollably high.” he sighed, half in affectionate incredulity, half in defeated kind of air.

“Maybe grandchildren are another matter entirely. Also, I’m not the one to judge. I swear I have already named my future children.”

Louis caught Harry’s wistful smile and his stomach seemed to drop as he considered the possibility of the alpha dreaming of their future children. “What would you name them, then?” he asked, implying something different altogether.

“Darcy, I always wanted to name my daughter Darcy. I don’t know why.” There was a slight pink tint above the dimples.

“I like the ring of Tom Tomlinson meself.”

Harry snorted. “Who said the alpha would let you keep your last name. We are possessive beings, after all.”

“And I am more stubborn than your usual omega. There are very few alphas who wouldn’t surrender because of _this_ ass.” At Curly’s frowning he quickly added, “Besides, Louis Styles sounds like a bad porn name.”

The car swerved to the left slightly as Harry was taken by surprise to hear the name he had doodled in his text book margins coming from the omegas lips – he still had some of his notebooks stored in a box under his bed, humiliatingly full of doodles and future planning, all the way to the wedding’s music theme.

“Yeah…” the alpha answered, a tad breathless.

When they pulled in front of their destination, Louis found out that it, in fact, was not any new, hipster diner but a quaint little pub-ish place. It was the sort of place that would have 100% homemade fish and chips or mashed potatoes with a cuppa – Yorkshire, definitely. The inside of the restaurant had even better home-y feeling in it: dimmed lights that gave you the sense of a fireplace’s glow, dark wooden panels and red couches – something to remind you of those childhood days when you visited your Nan. Just without the flowered wallpapers.

They were guided to a table for two; away from the turmoil of all the families with children – of course they wouldn’t have minded the noise for both Harry and Louis loved children – that were gathered there, lured by the weekend. The wall beside the table had some pattern of plums and it gave him a bit of a Mediterranean vibe. Louis wondered if one of the owners was partly Italian.

“Oh, look. They sell pizza here.” he said, leafing through the menu.

“I think everyone sells pizza nowadays.” Harry looked entertained. “Can’t you choose anything unusual?”

“Chicken with Parma ham and mash is my option number two.”

“You should have that. It sounds delicious.”

Louis pondered his alternatives. “More like something I could actually cook…but I’ll take it”

It turned out to be great. Just to keep the date atmosphere up, they shared some of their orders. Harry’s serving had too many vegetables for his taste – something he kept complaining about but secretly didn’t hate at all and Harry played along with him, seeing through his obvious act. After they finished their dessert sorbets, they left hand in hand, walking mindlessly through the quiet streets, all citizens opting to stay inside because of the heat of the nearing July. They had long ago taken their jackets off.

After walking past another block, Louis recognized a shop that was one of the few with lights on.

“Mind if we went to check on our mates?” he asked from Harry, pointing the store with his thump.

“Not at all.”

***

The bell above the shop’s door rang as they stepped inside and made their way to the register where, between the towers of comic books, sat Liam and Zayn. The former came to greet them quickly, while Zayn looked them through his rarely used glasses with an inquisitive gaze that flickered between Louis and Harry. He obviously sensed what was going on with them while Liam, not surprisingly, had no idea of the progression of their relationship.

“I’m quite surprised that you didn’t leave us in the dark again, Tomlinson. But it’s so good to see you two. Zayn and I were just finishing outlining our newest comic.”

And it indeed seemed so as Zayn had a coal smudge in his left cheek and who still managed to look like a Gucci model. Harry seemed to have similar thoughts as he gripped Louis’ waist in a sign of ownership – as much as the omega detested such objectifying, he couldn’t find himself annoyed with Harry (and that should have clued him in about the depth of his feelings towards the alpha).

“He’s so talented. I can’t believe I got to start a comic book shop with the da Vinci of 21st century.” Liam continued, gushing about the other alpha’s talents. Zayn, who was still seemingly still immersed in his drawings, gave himself away by making the familiar tongue-between-teeth grin. Louis had never exactly understood the relationship between the two alphas as they seemed closer than friends should be, acted like they knew each other’s deepest secrets and were horribly jealous of each other – plus, neither of them had Mates, yet it was rare for two alphas to Bond as they could not reproduce.

Apparently kids wasn’t something they were worried about at the moment as they had the shop to run, and Louis would be properly worried about the child’s mental health if he or she grew up around the heated debates about the coolness of Superman versus Spiderman and whether Batman was the best of all because his powers didn’t come from unnatural source – like they were doing right now. Louis crept quickly away, leaving Harry talking with them, and explored the shop’s manga section – something the two owners weren’t truly thrilled about but to quote Zayn, _‘it wasn’t their cup of tea but the shit sold good’_. He didn’t like it either; you wouldn’t believe the perverted pictures some of them had. And you shouldn’t get him even started about hentai – that stuff was just freaky.

Finally, before he was fatally disturbed, the debate was over and it was time for him and Harry to head back to their respective homes. Louis suggested they took a shortcut through the park to get to the car – he did _not_ have any deeper meaning in voicing that thought, really – and it turned out to be quite romantic to walk through it, the twilight casting shadows on the ground and some other couples taking a stroll as well.

However, the mood was broken by the shout of _‘Tommo!’_ right when they were starting to descent the stairs to the sidewalk, so close to the car and the restaurant but yet lamentably far.

“We haven’t seen you in ages but you don’t seem to have changed. Still the same weakling following your steps.” said the unwelcome, sneering voices of Bass and John.

“And so the Trolls return…” Louis muttered under his breath. Harry tried to stifle his laughter.

“What’s so funny, tosser?” Bass asked.

“You. I have never seen anyone treat omegas as badly as you two and still you continue to wonder why you can’t seem to keep any of your lewd girlfriends.”

“Shut up, you fucktard!” was the ingenious comeback from Bass and Louis was suddenly reminded that the two had used to hit Harry in school when he watched Bass’ fist curl and uncurl. He stepped between him and Harry, facing the unquestionably more handsome of the two.

 _‘This is not the occasion for you to start playing the role of the prince in shining armor. They have predominance when it comes to physical powers.’_ he tried to convey through the look he gave Harry.

Just when it seemed to look like the two trolls were becoming bored at the lack of reaction from them and after they had turned around as if to walk away, his attention was not focused on Jonathan, and right then, right at that very moment happened something that changed his blood cold in 0,012 seconds: John swirled around and his fist came in contact with Harry’s chest who, taken by surprise, was not able to recover his already bad enough balance.

And he fell down the stairs.

A crack was heard as his head hit the pavement about ten feet below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooops, welcome angst.  
> Again your comments have been so amazing! The best I have evenr gotten, like, I would never have though someone would especially like the way I write... o_0  
> By the way, I have a tumblr under the same name (larriebane) so if you have questions or just want to say hi, I'll be there <3
> 
> Go gain some strenght for the next chappie xx -M


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry.

It all had happened in slow motion, the film playing on repeat in Louis’ mind.

They way Harry had fallen down the stairs and all he had been able to do was watch, paralyzed with dread as the lean body of the alpha bowed towards the steps, loosing balance, and finally, the sickening thumbs of his head, back and other body parts hitting the stile. Louis would never be able to forge the image of his Hazza’s grumbled form on the pavement; the startlingly red blood from the cut on his head smearing his palms when he had ran to cradle his unmoving body.

And as he had looked back to the Trolls through tearful eyes, he had found them already sneaking away, not taking the responsibility of the harm they undoubtedly had inflicted on his Haz. It was right then, with Harry’s blood starting to moisten his jeans, that Louis promised he would do everything in his power to kill all things Bass and John loved – anything that gave them joy and happiness in life – if anything happened to Harry, Louis’ key to future happiness.

Some passerby had stopped to call the ambulance as Louis was numb from shock. All he had managed to do within the ten minutes it took to hear the sirens of the nearing help, was to comb his fingers through Harry’s hair, now less curly and matted together by the blood he had tried to prevent from leaking with his jeans jacket – something he had remembered they did on movies. Louis was no sure whether it was even loosely based on the truth but the helpful woman had not tried to stop him at least, not that he would have heard her instructions. A war was being waged inside his head.

When Harry was being loaded into the vehicle, the paramedics took one glance at the omega who looked ready to collapse, and shortly Louis found himself inside the ambulance, gripping Harry’s hand while the paramedics did their job. They seemed to be under the impression that he was Bonded to Harry, and he was not about to set things straight if it meant he was able to keep holding the alpha’s hand.

***

Louis was seated in the hospital’s waiting room, surrounded be the smell on sterilizers and white walls that weren’t something he had hated previously, as his memories about hospitals had been about getting five amazing little sisters and a baby brother, but he was quickly changing his opinion.

Hospitals were the place where people received bad news, lost hope and lost loved ones – Louis prayed he would not have any of those destinies but fearing he was about to take part in all of them.

And, yes, he _loved_ Harry Styles.

Anne had been there, sitting with him for a while but as it was nearing midnight, she headed to the small canteen downstairs to get coffee. Louis had been asked whether he was Harry’s emergency contact, and after blubbering some nonsense through the mush his brain had turned into, he had given them Anne’s number. The highly concerned woman had left for the hospital immediately and had been keeping Louis company for almost three hours…

The duration of Harry’s surgery that had just ended.

“I brought you some tea.” Anne said when she returned her seat. Louis sipped it, grimacing about the too sweet taste. Harry would have remembered Louis never puts sugar in his tea.

“You would think they had enough money to invest in proper tea…” he said bitterly.

Anne patted his knee emphatically, keeping her eyes on the door and like Louis, wishing for the doctor to give them permission to see Harry. Part of him thought this all was his fault, that _he_ was the one who proposed the walk through the park just because of his own selfish reasons and that _he_ was not fast enough to stop the fall.

“You are still blaming yourself?” Anne asked, getting tired of Louis’ pity party.

“How could I not? If there was nothing to be done to stop the situation, nothing to accuse me of, then I could have at least taken the fucking fall myself.”

The look he got afterwards was so achingly identical to the one he got from Harry every time he cursed, that he felt his throat tighten, signaling the coming of a new wave of tears.

“Louis, dear, everyone who loves someone has the same survivor’s guilt when the significant other gets hurt.” First few tears made their way down his cheeks. Anne reached for a new packet of tissues from her bag. “Trust me when I say it was better this way. If it were you lying on a hospital bed, I wouldn’t know how to comfort my son. I know how shaken he would be to see you hurt and, frankly, I would never want to see him that upset.”

“You’re right,” Louis blew his stuffy nose noisily. “…but I’ll stop blaming myself only after I know Harry is going to be alright.”

***

It was somewhere on the wee hours of the night that the doctor gave them the permission. As much as Louis had needed to see Harry, he really didn’t want to now that he was able to as seeing the truth of the alphas state with his own eyes was going to be a hash wake-up call to everything he had by now denied

So he followed his needs, his heart alike.

The fact that Harry was much less brawny than a normal alpha had never been as highlighted as now that he lay under the pale hospital sheets, looking even smaller than usual – or it was just the situation at hand, the hospital scene making him seem more fragile in Louis’ unconsciousness. The most visible proof of what had happened was the bruises on his body: a few on the arms that where resting atop the covers and one on his cheek, looking grotesque against the paleness of his Hazza’s face.

Louis hadn’t known whether to hug the doctor or cry from happiness when he had announced that Harry had not slipped into a coma. There had been a fracture on his skull that had been the reason for the operation and that by some miracle there was no swelling occurring in Harry’s brain and thus his vital functions were able to continue working. Still, he found himself looking distrustfully at the cardiogram as if daring it to flat line or show any signs of deterioration in the alphas condition.

Complications were a big thing, after all, when it came to surgeries in the head region.

“He’s a strong one. I’m sure he will be fine enough to wake up within the next few days.” Anne said, brushing his son’s now clean hair. Actually everything was clean in him, too clean, as the antiseptic smell had replaced his natural scent.

“I know. At least the anaesthetics are keeping him from feeling any pain. It’s just weird to see him so unresponsive.” Louis was gripping Harry’s hand again, the immobility feeling unfamiliar.

“It’s just to get over the worst stages. Harry is half there.” Anne appeased the omega, reaching her other hand to rest on Louis’ shoulder. “Didn’t the doctor say he might be able to move his fingers or talk in his sleep?”

Louis sighed deeply and eyed the bandage that was on his head. Harry wouldn’t be too happy to know they had had to cut some of the hair in order to find the right spot for the surgery – Louis almost smiled at the childish pout the alpha would make. The other bandage was covering his right foot where the ankle had sprained, no doubt having twisted somewhere along the tumble down the stairs.

Somewhere beside him came a magnificent yawn. Anne stood up, stretching. “I’m going to hunt for another coffee. Do you want anything, dear?”

“I’m fine with water…” Louis answered and pointed negligently somewhere in the general direction of the water cooler but probably because of his unwavering focus on Harry, that might as well have been the window.

“Very well, if something happens, you know where to find me.”

As the clicking of her boots receded, Louis continued brushing his fingers along Harry’s palm, going further up the arm and sometimes tracing the anchor tattoo there. Every time he did so, he was surprised by the skin’s texture – not smooth like the other areas, but a bit rough. He looked closer at the skin that was now uncovered, as the nurses had taken off his armbands and other knick knacks that usually covered his wrists. And right there, under the anchor, were barely visible silvery scars.

Louis’ fingers stopped their movement. It couldn’t be.

***

Anne was indeed found from the canteen. At the sight of the omega, she was about to ask whether he wanted a sandwich but refrained when she took in his expression.

“What’s the matter, honey?” she asked concerned, the mother instincts clearly kicking in. “Is it Harry-“

“Nothing’s happened. Sort of. I just wanted to ask…” Louis struggled to word his question without sounding too straight to point or simply rude. “Wanted to ask if you knew…if Harry has had any self-harm tendencies.”

Surprisingly Anne looked understanding, “Oh, so you saw them, then.”

“So he _has_ been cutting?”

“A long time ago. I found about it after they called from the school.” Anne began to explain, picking on the white napkin. Louis greedily took a seat. “When I confronted Harry about it…you know how bad he is at lying. He confessed with great sense of guilt how he had just suddenly started it when everything came too much. I still remember his face when he told me he had tried to stop but it had always started again. It was like he was telling me he had just done a deadly sin.”

“He has always had higher moral than the rest of us combined. But when did he start? Was it the bullying?”

Anne gave him a glance that could only be said as pitying, and maybe he knew the answer right then. “Mostly it was because he loved you.”

“So after I left?” Louis was merely grasping for the last remnants of hope.

She shook her head. “He started it at fifteen.”

The world’s poles might have just switches places for all Louis cared. His personal world had just done a whole cartwheel.

He swore he would dig the information out of Harry, even if it meant black mailing him with a banana-ban or bribing him with one blowjob at a time.

***

Harry came to consciousness gradually, the unpleasant throb of his head speeding the process even though all he wanted was to go back to the lovely haziness of his sleep – except now that he was awake, he started to realize there was a peculiar smell and factory-like beeping coming from inside his room.

Curiously, he started to open his eyes that felt extra heavy for some reason, like they haven’t been used for days. Once he had them opened enough to see the scene swimming into focus, he got the answer he wanted: hospital. Somehow everything felt so heavy and sluggish; his body gravitating towards the ground harder than usually and his mind taking embarrassingly long to go through his memories to find the reason for his hospitalization.

 _‘I couldn’t have cut that deep, right? What would my mother say…she would be so disappointed. I was getting better. Did I relapse?’_ where the thoughts running through his head. Harry sensed someone was moving beside his bed and he turned his gaze to his left, the throbbing in his head spiking. He bit down a grimace.

The person beside him, however, was not his mother even though he was terribly familiar. Harry still hadn’t expected to find _Louis_ of all people, sitting next to his bed, looking at him like he was Ronnie Wood who had just asked to do a duet with him. Or maybe that was what Harry wanted…he couldn’t be sure with all these continuing hammer blows to his head and messing his track of thoughts.

“Thank God you’re okay!” Louis exclaimed and Harry was rather glad about it, too, but then the omega leaned down and gave him a wet kiss on his left cheekbone and nosed his hair – definitely not a platonic gesture if you ask him. He glanced at his right where he, to his relief, found his mother who was smiling reassuringly. Harry was not at all sure whether this was dream or reality – the details jumbled up in his head and the kiss definitely speaking on behalf of dreaming.

“W-what….” Harry frowned; his mouth was not following his brain that was clearing little by little.

“Hello, Mr. Styles. There’s nothing to worry about,” said a third figure of a man in a white coat; his doctor, possibly. “It is normal for the speech to be a bit intermittent after being so long under the effect of the anaesthetics.” he continued, now speaking somewhat to them all.

“Could there be something wrong with his memory?” asked the abruptly timid voice of Louis.

“I…for…er…you…” The three turned to look at him. Why couldn’t he say it when his brain formed it perfectly?

_‘I could never forget you.’_

“Do you know where you are, Mr. Styles?” the doctor asked.

“Hosp...ital.” It required more work than usual to get the words out and the ‘duh’-tone didn’t necessarily convey to them.

“And how old are you?”

This time he did manage to sound annoyed. “Twenty…one.”

“Everything seems to be in order,” the doctor said, smiling to Louis and his mum and started to leave. “I will ask the nurses to give him something for the headache.” Finally something to helpful.

***

Harry had conked out shortly after the pain medicine took effect. Louis watched him sleep and admired the way the alpha changed into someone who had no care in the world, someone who wouldn’t cut himself. He had gotten the fright as Curly hadn’t responded to his show of affection but looked confusedly at his mother like he needed reassurance that it was all really happening. And for a moment Louis’ heart had seized as the word _‘amnesia’_ broke through his thoughts.

But Harry seemed to be going along with everything. So it must have been just him, then. Was there some sort of Remember Everything Except Louis –part in the brain that had been activated by the hit? Or would a head trauma mess with someone’s feelings towards a person? Louis didn’t think so.

He still felt out of sorts: he hadn’t slept enough to resemble a normal human being and the last time he had showered had been before the date. Louis was absolutely not in his best shape – and maybe it was admissible under the situation at hand – but he would rather have Harry wake up to a Normal Louis, not this I-just-spent-three-nights-on-this-chair-because-of-you Louis.

As he started to hum the melody of You Are the One That I Want – seriously he was deadly bored and the room’s silence was getting too much to bear, although he was glad the awful beeping was gone – he felt something move against his palms that were resting on the hospital bed.

And somehow, by some unconscious thought, his Hazza’s hand wrapped around his much smaller one and Louis was ready to believe in a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ciao!  
> As you see, Harry's fine <3  
> I would never kill anyone (except the bad guys) so you are safe with me!  
> It gets sappy after this, I promise.  
> Your comments were awsome again *evil cackle*
> 
> All the love xx -M


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All is well and London is calling.

**JULY 2015**

“C’mon, Harold!”

There was a crumbling sound behind Louis as the alpha struggled to keep up with the hyped up omega – Louis thought he was pretty much excused as he had drunk two and a half cups of tea and he wasn’t jumping on the walls yet – as Harry’s sprained ankle was still troubling him.

“Remind me to _never_ give you double dosage of caffeine again.” Harry bemoaned to Louis who had taken his place on top of the Twists’ kitchen countertop. “Pasta?”

“Sounds good.” Louis let his gaze drag over Harry as the curly haired man searched for the needed ingredients – Louis would not be allowed to even help in stirring the kettle for he had a habit of getting distracted while having to prevent the water from boiling over. And really, it was not that the cooking in itself was boring (it _was,_ only a little bit, though) or that he didn’t appreciate the art of making food, it was just that Louis' mind wandered to admire a different art entirely.

The said masterpiece was currently cutting the tomatoes for the sauce, and in the meantime, Louis followed every movement of his hands and had to fight the urge to reach and brush away the stubborn hair stand that was rudely obscuring Harry’s face.

_‘God, I love him…’_

Louis had not said it out loud as yet – the realization was fairly new to even him – but he was dead certain it was the truth. After the scare he had gotten a few weeks ago, he had gotten much clingier and he was not proud of it but Louis could do nothing about it. Because when you have lived drinking water all your life and they give you juice, only for it to be taken from you, you start missing its sweet taste, unwilling to go back to the normal. Louis wouldn’t, _couldn’t_ go back to normal. The addiction was too far.

And Louis knew he was too deep to crawl up when he found the alphas new haircut unhealthily endearing – the shortened bits were standing up, curlier than the rest that were straightened by the weight of the longer hair, with a bandage on the middle. As he had predicted, there had been pouting, fuming, fussing, bribing and kissing, before he had been able to coax Harry out, promising it would not look stupid to wear a beanie on July to cover it all.

“ _What?_ ”

“Huh?” Louis had been thrown off by the sudden addressing.

“Is there something on my face?” Harry asked, wiping fervently his cheek with the back of his hand, only just now getting a smear of sauce there. Louis leaned and wiped it off, licking the fingers afterwards.

“Tastes as good as it sounded. Maybe a bit more chili. I’m hot, after all.”

Harry’s cheeks were equally hot as his eyes had followed how the omega had sucked the sauce off his fingers and it had given him more than enough inappropriate thoughts that consisted of Louis’ lips wrapped around several unmentionable things.

“Thank you. I’m just lucky that cooking dinner includes salty foods only. You would have eaten third of any cookie dough straight from the bowl.”

“Nothing wrong with healthy appetite. It just banks everything up my arse.” Louis watched with delight as Harry’s thoughts quickly returned to the gutter but with a shake of his head, the alpha became the master of his situation.

“Go set the table, Tomlinson.”

And Louis did, although he didn’t walk around to the other side but settled for reaching across the dinner table to set the plates to the other side – not a sign of common laziness, but a caffeine induced boost of his teasing side – just to show off his ass. He saw the familiar photo of a winding wheel on the wall, behind the table.

“I still can’t believe you major at photography.”

Harry turned around, facing away from his kettles, and quipped, “Why? My raw sensitivity and artistic nature didn’t clue you in?”

Louis was proud of his baby – his sarcasm was evidently rubbing on him. “Nah, you should know me better than to think I’m into any kind of deep, soulful shit.”

“And drama isn’t?”

“Romeo and Juliet, maybe.” Louis snorted. “It’s a tragedy among tragedies. Which means it’s overrated bullshit and good ole’ John Travolta could show how to do real art.” He did consider himself to be a bit high on caffeine.

Harry shook his head fondly as he made the last touches to their dinner.

***

Later in the evening they were cuddled together on the couch – Louis had insisted on spooning Harry from behind – with the TV on but neither of them really listening, whispering about memories from childhood.

Louis had recently spent more time with the Twists than his own family, practically using the Tomlinson house only for sleeping and even that just for the matter of form. His mother didn’t mind in the slightest because her boy finally had a significant other in his life _and_ Louis and his abilities to create a mess where elsewhere, leaving her with more free time. Louis would feel bad for abandoning his sisters if it wasn’t for the fact that they had all grown up now, with jobs, friends and generally having a busy life with all that teenage drama.

Now that Louis thought about it, he found himself quite unwilling to buy a train ticket back to London for next week as he didn’t know when he would see Harry again. If the alpha stayed in Doncaster – witch was very likely as it would not be safe for him to drive for several hours so soon after recovering from concussion – Louis would be persuaded into staying for another few weeks. It seemed that great minds did think alike.

“Lou?” Harry started, turning around in the omegas grip so they were now facing each other, only few inches separating their lips. Louis felt the warm puffs of air as the alpha continued, “What’s going to happen when we have to return to London. We won’t part again, right?”

“I had planned to leave next week. I don’t look forward to it, though. The train is not the comfiest transportation…and of course we will keep in contact. Don’t be ridiculous, Harold.”

Harry unleashed the power of his irresistible pout. “Change the ticket. I want you to stay here, with me.” He added an imploring look from under his lashes, the green color darker in the shadows. “I’m stuck here anyways now that mum doesn’t allow me to drive. Otherwise I would be leaving for London, too. The bakery needs me.”

The two things that kept Louis from kissing the alpha’s puckered lips, were Harry’s parents down the hall, efficiently cockblocking his all tries. Louis quickly counted how much he could take before he died of frustration – sexual or not – as there was nothing more mood-killing than spying parents. “I haven’t officially bought the ticket yet,” Louis confessed and watched Curly’s eyes lit up like someone had flicked a switch on, "But…”

“But _what?_ ” Harry was starting to grow impatient, but Louis had just come up with an ingenious plan – he already patted himself on the back for figuring it out.

“What if we both left next week? You will make it to the bakery and I will manage to avoid the train if I drive us to London.” Harry’s face changed from questioning to overjoyed to confused, the expressions showing there like an open book and it was still fascinating how expressive they were and how fast they glided from one to another, following the alpha’s track of thoughts.

 _‘No wonder the poor sweetums is so shit at lying…’_ Louis scoffed, falling in deeper with every characteristic.

“Whose car would you drive?” Harry asked, and then blinked, obviously coming into the realization. “Mine? And what makes you so sure I will hand over the keys for someone so reckless.”

Louis thought it was a rather nice save but he had other opinions to give. “That was _one time_ , Haz, and it was winter. How could I have known the lamp post would suddenly assault my car?”

Harry laughed at the omega’s huffy tone, doubling up on the couch and promptly falling off the side, something that launched Louis into a fit of giggles, eyes crinkling as he held his tummy.

***

The day of their depart was mostly spent at the Tomlinsons’ as Louis had procrastinated the arduous task known as packing. It wasn’t that Louis packed more heavily – he had watched Harry fold jazzy shirt after jazzy shirt into his luggage and he couldn’t believe the amount of boots the alpha managed to squeeze in there – but rather the fact that the omega despised any kind of order and folding his clothes to the luggage was next to drowning puppies on his list. An image of Liam suddenly passed through his eyes.

After several minutes of playing around with the same pair of pants, Harry took over and started to pack his clothes with a gentle smile covering his face, looking like the picture of domestic life. And suddenly the blue eyed girl he had pictured weeks ago, appeared there beside him, twirling a curly brown hair strand around her fingers and watching her father pack his daddy’s clothes.

Louis flopped backwards to the bed, imagining, not for the first time, what it would be like to be Bonded to his Haz: waking up every morning to an English breakfast, coming home to a healthy dinner instead of overcooked pot noodles, starting a family and admiring the curve of his rounding stomach full of their baby…

He grabbed a pillow and brought it to his chest, hugging it, wondering if phantom pregnancies were a thing with omegas – if so, he would snap soon enough, building a nest and believing his decorative pillows were his puppies. His reproductive system was clearly trying to signal for him to pop out a few (dozen) babies before he was over the hill.

A shadow cast over him, something soft tickling his face.

“You alright, boo?” the shadow asked, dimples prominent.

“Yeah…” It must have been his earlier thoughts and the alpha’s closeness that finally proved to be the needed factors to push Louis over the figurative threshold as he reaches to wrap his hand to the curls of hair on Harry’s neck and locked his gaze on the unnaturally red lips. Harry’s smile slowly faded as he, too, shifted his glance lower, eyes flickering between Louis’ mouth and eyes.

The distance was closed with a tentative brush of lips, soft and fleeting. They drew back to gauge the other’s reaction – lips tingling, minds shouting for more – and leaned in again, this time connecting their lips with more determination. The kiss deepened, getting more heated as they studied each other, the movement more forceful as their hands started to map the other’s body. Louis brought his knees up, letting Harry slot between his legs and thus getting closer contact while the alpha moved his lips to his neck, starting to nib at the responsive skin near his collarbones and moving upwards, all the way to his chin – now shaved, just because of returning to a more populated area.

With their breaths almost on the level of arousal, they parted and listened to their breathing slow down to normal, the packing all but forgotten.

A pointed cough was heard from the direction of the door. Harry seemed to be in no hurry to look away from Louis as his gaze lingered on the omega for several seconds after the commanding voice. Louis, on the other hand, was glaring at Daisy, throwing figurative daggers at her smug face.

“You might want to tame the PDA before mum comes to check what’s holding you two up.” And after a dramatic flick of her hair – Louis swore the kid was going to become a high class diva – she added over her shoulder, “I’ll leave the door open…”

 _‘Jesus, family is the worst!’_ Louis thought as he shouted at his little sister’s retreating form, “It was very _private_ display of affection before you invaded _my_ room!”

His annoyance that had spiked at Daisy’s following cackle, was lessened considerably when Harry kissed his temple and continued packing Louis’ clothes, shooing the omega away as he tried to help but only succeeded in making a mess. Shouldn’t the situation be reversed as Louis was not the one with a bandage on his head? He decided to bring the matter of John and Bass up again as the alpha had skillfully skirted out of the subject.

“Are you sure you don’t want to file a suit? We have enough evidence to get them to pay for inflicting a personal injury.”

Harry sighed heavily, lowering the jeans jacket he had been inspecting. “I don’t _need_ any compensation. Definitely not money. Whatever they did was wrong but I don’t need to revenge a few bruises by depriving them from their savings. The less I see them, the better. London has always been more like my kind of scene, anyway.”

“ _A few bruises?!_ ” Louis repeated, incredulous. “And breaking your neck would have been what? Collateral damage?!” Behind his anger and frustration, he was a bit impressed by the goodness of his Haz.

“Louis,” Harry said imploringly. “Can we just leave it be. They are dickheads, alright, but I would just like to spend time with my boyfriend without any interruptions.”

“You-,” Louis heard skipped a few beats, stuttering like his words. “B-boyfriend?”

The alpha blushed. “I know we haven’t talked about it yet…but I would like us to date exclusively.”

Louis rose up to stand beside Harry, his lips stretched wider than he would have thought possible. He poked Curly’s dimple and for once, was left without any sarcastic or sassy comebacks. “I would like that, too.” he said and got up on his tippy toes to peck his boyfriend on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry, guys. It has been an extra busy week in Uni and I haven't found the time to write (excuses, excuses, I know but it's the truth).  
> I promise there will be douple update on the weekend to compromise this failure ;)  
> Oh, and a special thank to Minto, who was brave enough to comment on chapter 7 on her own! Thanks love <3
> 
> Have a good weekend xx -M


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: smut and the three little words ahead.

London had always been beautiful with its diversity: the buildings were a mix of old and new, creating an intriguing net of tall, glass-walled office buildings, imperial property and bridges with either old-fashioned arches or modern wires and cables – and the people were the same. Even though Louis was the center of attention and the life of the parties, he appreciated the moment when you were able to just slip the hood over your head and go incognito. He was not made for small villages where everyone knew each other; after all, there was no better hiding place than in the middle of the frequented streets, blending in to the masses of ten million other Londoners.

Louis had dropped Harry and the car off not far from his home – the former had insisted that Louis took the car to drive himself home but the fact that the underground would be many times faster, was why he refused. It was not easy to own a car in a big city as there where the congestions, limited parking places and thus Louis had five years ago decided to surrender himself to the timetable of the public transport.

When he finally managed to drag his bags inside, thanking the Lord for placing the station just a few hundred years from his house, he collapsed on the sofa, already ready to complain about the empty fridge that would undoubtedly greet him once he got the powers to reach the kitchen.

_‘Maybe I should have just bared my neck for Curly. That would have been much easier than going to the nearest store to restock…’_

Louis was proud, however, for the cleanness of the apartment – no old socks (if he used those) lying around or other clothing items littering the floor, the dishes were washed and put away into the cupboard. He just couldn’t remember if he had even used the said plates and cutlery on his last week here. He definitely needed to do something with his life, starting with the grocery shopping.

***

“Yes, mum, it’s been a blast…uh-huh….of course I am…just going to see Harold.”

Louis was walking the now familiar route to Harry’s place – he had visited the alpha three times this week only and he was a bit ashamed that he couldn’t stay away longer, but Harry didn’t seem to mind – and his mother had called just when he was exiting the metro. She had asked how his week had been and not so subtly steered the conversation to Harry, just to be sure Louis wasn’t losing contact with the Curly One, again.

Louis would be more amused by her grilling if he didn’t agree so full-heartedly that he needed to have Harry’s babies right now.

 _“I’ll leave you two at it, then.”_ was the response from his mother and Louis rolled his eyes. It was not like he could just jump into the bed with Harry and get it over with because he was just starting to notice what exactly Harry had meant when he said ‘London was more like his kind of scene’. The alpha was evidently more confident in there, seeing that during the week Harry had showed him just how vast his collection of billowy, jazzy shirts was – consisting of animal prints, geometrical patterns and flower prints, including a black sheer shirt with red roses in it that Louis had put into the list of Illegally Arousing.

And he was not alone.

There was not a single person in London that had known Louis’ Harry – the chubby cheeked cutie pie – and their superficial assessment had obviously been permission enough for them to transform his Haz as some sort of lothario in their day dreams, charming his way to every omega’s panties; the nightmare of every mother-in-law when in reality they should be fighting over this _catch_.

It had been taken too far, especially on that Tuesday Louis had visited Harry at his workplace where he had found Curly wearing a flour-stained apron and serving the cupcakes for seven teenage girls that had been degenerated to a giggling, blushing mess as Harry had given them his best dimpled smile, oblivious to the dense clouds of pheromone-filled air as the bitches were trying to make a move on his boyfriend.

Thankfully, Harry was both oblivious and disinterested and didn’t spend too much time around anyone Louis considered a threat – except these certain two omegas he had the displeasure to reacquaint right now when he rang the doorbell of Harry’s house.

“Louis, hi!” the alpha said, always chipper, as he opened the door to see his boyfriend, looking adorable in yellow t-shirt and shorts – not that he would tell that to Louis, the omega would have his head.

“Hello, Curly.” There was an obnoxious laughter coming from the living room and Louis’ blood ran cold _. ‘No, not them, please…’_

Apparently, he had already used his monthly allowance of mercy as Harry confirmed his fears. “Oh, Taylor and Nick came to see me. They’ll be leaving soon but if you could just, like, try to not murder them for fifteen minutes.” He added a beseeching look.

Louis sighed. “Yeah, sure.” There was quarter of an hour of pure torture ahead. Good think he had built-in skills to ignore any kind of droning coming from the mouth of Miss Hydrogen Peroxide also known as Taylor the Airhead. She was exactly the type he had seen in his Uni years: the dump ex-cheerleader whose (sugar) daddy had bought his baby’s way into the prestigious English universities because apparently the American ones were ‘not good enough’.

Louis would find her less hateful if she wasn’t so good-looking with her legs that went for miles and her blue eyes. Weren’t Americans supposed to be stuffed with burgers or something? At least they knew nothing about Yorkshire tea and that in itself was a horrible violation, enough to get his revulsion to arise.

“Ah, Lewis! This is an unexpected pleasure indeed,” said the Repulsive Creature No. 2.

“Louis. The ‘s’ is as invisible as your dick, grandpa.” He spit back before he had time to filter his words, just because he had promised Harry to not commit homicide. The said alpha had turned his back to them, obviously hiding his smile, attempting to save the rest of Nick’s shredded ego but not really succeeding.

“Alright, Stacy. No need to get your knickers in a knot.” Louis had forgotten that the old man’s tongue was as sharp as his. “We all are here as Harold’s guests, aren’t we, Taylor?”

 _‘That nickname should be only for me.’_ Louis thought, admittedly jealous and more than a tad possessive. He had yet to seat himself somewhere but his options seemed thin as the two currently inhabited his favorite couch – a soft, plush one that smelled like his Hazza – and he would not sit somewhere where he would be seated lower than the two pests. He settled for the squeaky clean countertop of the open plan kitchen from where he could watch the common in contempt.

“It’s really amazing how many friends you have, Harry-love.” Her flattery was laughably lame. “Will you come visit me in NY when we have to part ways?” And she could do for some drama classes to get her pout less maniac, more believable. She still looked good, alas.

“Sure, if Louis and I can find the time.” Harry walked next to him, leaning against his legs and brushing his thump against his thigh. He kissed the alpha’s head, rewarding him for his sweet gesture.

Nick looked at the two of them and obviously got enough of them. “You two make me sick. I’m re-evaluating my life choices and questioning why I had invited you to join us.”

“Join you _where_?”

“A new club. We don’t need to go if you don’t want to.”

Louis pondered Harry’s words. He could either have a romantic movie evening with his boyfriend, maybe including some kisses and cuddles and good food after which he would have to go home. Or he could play nice and go to a club where he would have to put up with the menaces but there would be alcohol, grinding and a promise of a sleepover if he played his cards right. It really wasn’t a choice at all.

“When and where?”

***

The night club had some class, Louis had to admit. It was not the shack for grinding teenager’s he had thought it would be, but rather tastefully decorated with a dance floor that was not lit up by a ridiculous disco ball, but a set of fluorescent lights that changed colors and danced across the bodies of the dancing mass of humans. And his drink was good.

The four of them where gathering the needed blood alcohol content to get up there and start the real party and Louis was currently on the lead – possibly spurred on by his ill-favored company but really had more to do with his small size and biological status – while the others had just reached a state of mild buzz, somewhere when you start giggling about stupid things but still were on control of everything else. Louis leaned his head against Harry’s chest who was sitting next to him, on their side of the booth, listening to the beating of the alpha’s heart and the loud bass, creating a mixed rhythm of pounding noises that jumbled up in his hazy mind.

“-and then I told him…I told the fucktard that he would just have his rod and God to pray to and asked him to fuck off-“ Nick was explaining another fiery relationship of his with great detail and gusto, using far too many synonyms for the word ‘penis’ for Louis to stomach.

“Harreh, could we dance a bit?” he pleaded, grasping for an escape.

‘Sure’ was the only thing that got past the alpha’s lips before Louis was already shouldering his way to the dance floor with his dainty hand gripped surprisingly hard around Harry’s wrist. Harry really shouldn’t be surprised about Louis breaking the status norms as he has been the footie captain and kicked ass like any other team member.

The prevailing songs were upbeat and fast, making Harry doubt whether his body could make it through all the grinding, but before he had time to fret he got pulled closer by his slim hips, delicious friction forming between his and Louis. The smaller man leaned his head back where it had been, inhaling the scent on his boyfriend.

Harry didn’t like the looks his omega was getting from the others, growling a bit when one alpha walked too close, ‘accidentally’ brushing his fingers across Louis’ rear. He felt Louis shiver.

“Fuck.” the omega cursed. “We need a taxi. Now.”

Getting no further answer despite his questions, he was lead through the club to a waiting hackney. Once inside, Louis was biting his lip while Harry – always the one to put the blame on himself – was thinking the night through, wondering what he did wrong.

It didn’t help that Louis eyes were flickering between the driver and the window, ignoring Harry completely.

Once they arrived, the omega took off, practically running towards Harry’s house while Harry paid the fare quickly – possibly paying much more than what would have been needed – and rushed after his boyfriend, worry crowing but a bit relieved he had messed up nothing major as Louis was still willing to be in his home.

There was a bit of sweat on Louis’ brow as Harry opened the door, letting them in, after which Louis ran off ( _‘Again? Why does this keep happening to me?’_ ) to the bathroom, snagging his bag with him in the process.

Now Harry was screwed.

He went to sulk into the kitchen, thinking of what could have made his boy flee. Would he be calling his mother, saying that an alpha tried to grab a feel of him and Harry couldn’t do anything about it as usual? Or was he just feeling queasy from the alcohol…he seemed so tiny.

Harry had just drunk a glass of water to relieve the diuretic effect of the alcohol – always the one to think about these little things, like Liam – when the door opened and a bit more disheveled Louis came out. Maybe he really was sick, given the way his hair looked like it had been brushed through several times in discomfort, leaving it messier than normal. Harry’s worry rose again, this time for his boyfriend’s health.

The boyfriend in question came to stand between Harry and the counter; leaning backwards to it and Harry couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Because this was _the pose,_ the one he had dreamed of years but one that had been directed only to Stan and a few other chosen ones – the primitive kind of begging.

_Heat._

***

Louis felt feverish and exceptionally desperate. That very likely was because his heat was just around the corner and his Mate candidate was standing dumbfounded before him, when he should be pinning him against the cupboards, knot expanding inside him.

When Harry finally managed to speak, Louis couldn’t restrain his exasperated snort. “Are you sure? Because it would be our first time and-“

“I’m _bloody_ sure about it, Harold. We have been official for a week, dated for three. I’m lucid enough to say I want this and I pretty much need us to do it.”

The alpha took one verifying glance at him and their lips were brought together heatedly, more forceful than ever. “What started this?” Harry asked while navigating to the bedroom with his lips still intact on Louis’ pulse point.

“Ahh…the little growl you made. I’ve never heard anything so…uh, hot.” His head was getting into the heat mode and his track of thoughts was becoming quite hard to maintain. They were further confounded as Harry pinned him to the mattress, Louis’ limbs pliant, and started to rid them off clothing.

The drag of the texture against his heated skin reduced him into a wining mess and the tingles where increasing as Harry’s lips made their way up the inside in his thighs, leaving goosebumps on his stomach as the alpha’s lips ghosted over his tummy and brushed past a nipple. Louis spread his legs wider, inviting Harry in.

“ _Please._ ” he breathed and the other took pity on the omega, kissing him on the lips. Just a gentle brush, there was enough time for passion later on.

“I love you.” Harry said with conviction, his eyes leveled on the omega, the green deeper and darker shade that sent spikes of arousal to Louis’ lower regions. He answered with a choked ‘I love you, too’ right before he started to feel the relieving fullness, a moan being ripped from his throat to join Harry’s deeper one.

The friction, every drag of bare skin was overpowering as Louis started to teeter on the edge, the situation making him to fall just that much quicker. Several thrusts brought his hands to grip Harry’s back, leaving scratch marks on their leave as his prostate was being hit and the ledge of the cliff was getting closer. Small ‘uh, uh’ were escaping his lips as he was stretched, feeling the knot forming inside him. And the ledge on the cliff crumbled under him, leaving him weightless, plunging into the darkness with Harry’s name on his lips and sensing the alpha come closely after him, sealing them together.

***

As good as it had felt to be just fucked, Louis was sure that making love with Harry was a thousand times more pleasurable. His heat had retreated, giving him time just to enjoy being blissed out with Harry. The alpha had consciously removed the armbands for the first time and Louis was brushing his fingers across the thin scars there, wondering how to bring it up with Harry.

He felt relieved when he didn’t need to, as Harry started, “I’m not sure why I started it exactly…” Louis cuddled closer, putting a comforting hand around the alpha’s waist. “It was sort of the bullying but the real reason was the feeling of incompetence and that came from a lot of things. Including you.”

Louis had known it was coming but it still hurt how ignorant he had been of his Hazza’s pain. He nuzzled his face into Harry. “I’m sorry.” It sounded suitably timid and muffled, like coming from inside the prison his mind had just put him to for crimes against dimpled benefactors.

“It’s not your fault. It’s not mine, either. You can’t control who you fall in love with and if we were made to be, then we were to happen sometime in the future. I just would have to be patient.” A blush was rising on Harry’s cheeks. “And in the meantime, I kept my fantasies running by having you save me. After you left school I got a bit depressed. Like, I thought you would find someone better from London and so I stopped contacting you. I kept saying to myself that you would forget me anyway and to make the thing less painful, I sped up the process a bit.”

Louis playfully slapped the curls, wanting to keep the situation lighter. “So that’s why I waited weeks for a call that would never come. Thanks a lot, mate.”

Harry looed guilty and Louis scrambled for a save. One should never be embarrassed or guilty of loving someone. “Well, you can have me now. As often you want, as long as you want, as hard as you want.” Then with a glint in his eyes, “Shower sex?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii,  
> Thank you all for the awesome comments. Hopefully that was okay (I sacrificed a lot of thought and time for that smut scene btw) :)  
> And I did say it was going to be a douple update this weekend. Plus, I added a few tags, too, but if I missed something mentionable, give me a comment about it, right?
> 
> Bye, darlings! xx -M


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Living together.

**AUGUST 2015**

Harry was going to come back home any minute now from a long and undoubtedly taxing day of baking, and Louis was trying to be the perfect boyfriend. That had previously included cooking, candles, wine and other romantic and nauseatingly cheesy shite he could come up with but in reality, it was not going according to the plan.

The candles he had lit up had poured the stearin all over the table and he had spent twenty minutes to get the stains out of the wood, also every radio channel refused to play slow and beautiful songs and Louis would rather not have a date with his boyfriend listening to pounding rock music. Where were the good, old classics nowadays?

Not to mention that he had abandoned the recipe he had meant to use – nothing extraordinary but still something you couldn’t make by placing it in the microwave – after he had had problems to execute the step two: fry the chopped vegetables in the pan. So a man got to do what a man got to do; he ordered some Italian from the place down street.

When Harry finally got home, there was just one candle on the center of the table that was set with much difficulty ( _‘Which damn side did these forks and knives belong…?’_ ) and the ravioli was served with satisfactory aesthetics. The alpha took in the scene with wide eyes.

“W-what…” Harry’s bag slid on the floor with a thump. “You have cooked? For us?”

“Quit that surprised tone right now, Curly. I have fed myself for five years without your help-“

“I know, I know.” Harry said, coming to hug his boyfriend, nuzzling his nose to Louis’ neck. “And I appreciate the though, very much.” Kisses were now peppered on Louis’ face and he purred for managing to make his alpha happy. “The Italian down street must have a field day every time you try to make lunch for me.”

Louis pouted for getting caught, though it would have been a matter of time, really. “Sit your ass down before it gets cold.” he said, but his tone wasn’t as mean as his words because of the smile that refused to leave his face.

They had moved in together about two weeks ago, his old apartment on sale at the moment, and he was over the moon. Because in no time, there would be the Bonding, the wedding, the babies – he had it all mapped out in his head. Furthermore, they were now able to split the bills and thus their new living arrangements left them with more money to spend from their moderate incomes. Louis was quite resolved to be Bonded within the next few days.

Harry was raising his glass of red wine and Louis lifted his to bring them together with a clink.

“Shouldn’t we raise them for a specific purpose?” Harry pointed out.

“Mmmhm…how about luck?”

“ _Luck_? Why?” Harry looked perplexed. “Do we need it?”

 _‘I need it.’_ Louis rather thought he would need a shit load of courage, too, to be able to propose the thing that was on his mind. “Just for, you know, not being poisoned by my cooking in the future. I swear I have no idea why my sisters are not radioactive or something after all the years they spent with me.”

“Don’t worry, love.” Harry reached his hand over the table and took hold of Louis’. “I’ll make sure to survey our babies with a Geiger counter.” Then, as if having accidentally slipped something he should have, Harry looked down, kicking himself for being so careless. Louis had problems of his own: maybe his proposition was going to be easier if that mention of babies was anything to go by.

“Harry…” The alpha lifted his head, looking a bit like a deer in front of headlights, distinguishable amount of dread in his eyes. “I think we should…I think we are-” Louis took a deep, calming breath. He would not sound like a stuttering idiot. He would face the question and its consequences head held high. “I think we are ready to take the next step in the relationship.”

The tension left Harry’s shoulders like the air escaped from a balloon that had been punctured. “Really? I mean, you would Bond with me? Seriously?”

The amount of incredulity in the alpha’s voice was a bit of overkill in Louis’ books and the familiar twinge of guilt made itself known again after weeks of peace. Harry shouldn’t be so surprised that someone found him desirable enough to form the holiest of all unions. He shouldn’t be because he was absolutely-

“Perfect. You are perfect for me.” And so the thousand kilowatt smile was unleashed, being nothing less than blinding in its dimpled glory.

***

They continued eating but only half focusing on it, most of their senses attended to things like their legs brushing together under the table and the quick looks they stole between their bites of food. To be honest, Louis felt like he was eating cardboard as his taste buds had been given the boot to save resources for his vision and touch that were currently working overtime.

When Harry rose up from his seat to gather the plates to the dishwasher – Louis was exceedingly gratified that they had had the money to buy the appliance for themselves – he followed the alpha, only to hear his phone buzzing on the living room table and judging from the ringing tone, it was Zayn.

Shooting an apologetic smile at Harry, Louis scrambled to answer it, just sliding his thumb over the screen before it went to voicemail. “Hi.”

 _“Hello, Louis. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”_ The Infamous Malik Smirk was able to be heard through.

“Just because I am now in a healthy relationship with an active sex life, it’s not a reason for you to think we are going at it like rabbits, you naughty boy.”

_“Ha-ha, but in case you were interested, Liam managed to buy us the tickets for the game. You in?”_

“Maybe. How’s Liam’s dick?” After his friend’s stuttering response, Louis corrected, “Oh, my bad. I really meant his kidney.”

_“Louis…fuck. It’s not even remotely possible to mix those things up. Unless you like the D so much, you start to confuse it with half the English words.”_

Damn, the Bradford lad was cunning. He had turned the conversation back to Harry and his nightly activities in just one sentence. “Fine, I like Harry’s cock. It’s not that hard to get the picture but I get it, it’s quite big and hard if you understand my meaning. Is Niall coming to see Man U with us?”

  _“I might be scarred for a lifetime how you use those in daily conversation just like that…but yes, Niall is coming. You seriously can’t deny anything from him. And I swear you don’t want to steal his Nachos, it makes him cry and your heart will shatter. But well, I gotta go finish these drafts. Call you later for the details.”_

“Sure, bye.” Louis closed down and shouted over his shoulder. “Harry? I’m going to run a bath. I think I have cooking oil or something in my hair.”

Not waiting for response, he took off to the bathroom, turning on the tap and waiting for the tub to fill – possibly flowing a bit over as he was deep down a childish being and insisted on having a scented bubble baths – before stepping in. The warm water felt nice and relaxing against his sore muscles and maybe he wasn’t so young after all. Were you usually sore and achy at twenty-three? He didn’t think so.

The door opened behind his back, letting in a blast of cold air. Louis was about to complain but the protest died in his throat as he heard the shuffling of clothing being removed – he was all aboard with _that_ plan.

Soon the familiar, baby giraffe-like legs came to rest on either side of him, encompassing him in and Louis tried to turn his head around to gauge Harry’s face. “Did you have cooking ingredients in your hair, too?”

“No…I just felt like it.” Louis’ eyes narrowed. The alpha was acting strange – or stranger than normal for this didn’t count as his normally quirky behavior. The water sloshed around, disturbed by the movement as Louis turned around in the confined space, getting eye contact that was the fool proof way to get Curly to cut the bullshit. “I might have felt a bit jealous about you talking with Zayn…” was the reluctant explanation.

“He’s my friend. And we were just talking.” The omega was seriously bemused.

Harry shook his head. “Of course you can talk with him. Just not about Liam’s genitals.” And at that, Louis burst into laughter, the sound echoing around the tiles while Harry looked at him like someone would look up to his idol. It was a bit overwhelming.

“Oh, bite me!” he added, fully intending to tease the curly little shit.

“I intended to.” And then there were wet lips dragging across his collarbone, their journey starting from his shoulders and ending at the Bonding spot and Louis was brought near hyperventilation. His knees started to shake under him, breaking the surface of the water as Harry nibbled gently on the skin there. Every scratch of teeth over the sensitive spot sent electrical signals to every cell of his body that started to hum with anticipation.

 _‘I should talk more about dicks if it gets a response like this.’_ Louis had never seen Harry act so spontaneously, so sure of what he wanted and how to get it. He just got hornier, the longer his neck was being caressed. He placed his hand behind Harry’s head; half ensuring he wouldn’t move away, half because he wanted to bring him some of the pleasure back.

As he was stroking his fingers through the hair, fingers tangled in the midst of it, Harry bit down, causing Louis to give a forceful tug of the hair he had been gripping. The feel of his skin being pierced drowned his concern about having hurt the alpha, who drew back from his neck, leaning down several times to kiss the punctured skin. The bond mark would be there by tomorrow.

Louis exhaled shakily and opened his eyes, seeing Harry and familiarizing his every aspect and curve because those where the one he would see every morning as he woke up from now on. Neither of them was complaining – far from it.

They didn’t make it to the bedroom.

***

Few days after that – few lovely days, during which Louis had been able to flaunt about being Bonded to his Hazza – he was visiting the bakery again. His work at the school was starting in a few weeks and he had been going through the course plan and stocking up some musicals for a rainy day – you never knew when the students would get enough of the slide shows or when Louis would be too lazy to teach. He was the cool teacher anyway and he got to keep his reputation.

Harry welcomed him in with a kiss, Louis smirking to all the disappointed looking girl customers. After being seated to his standard table near the personnel door, Harry got the omega his normal order. Louis eyed the blueberry muffin wordlessly, not knowing how to say without hurting Harry’s feelings that he didn’t like blueberries anymore.

“Is something wrong?” his Hazza asked, a cute wrinkle between his eyebrows. He had become more observant no that they shared the soul bond. It was like mind reading, just without hearing the actual words.

Louis shook his head. “I just don’t feel like eating blueberries. Is there, like, a banana muffin or something?”

“You hate bananas.” Harry pointed out.

Louis did know that, thank you very much. “Used to. Know any kind of berries taste too sweet or too sour.”

Harry put a hand on Louis’ forehead, feeling the temperature and frowning as there was nothing wrong with it. Still, people – especially Louis – didn’t just stop hating a fruit overnight. “Do you feel sick? Maybe we should visit a doctor.”

“Just because my taste changed?” Louis snorted. “I think not.”

Harry gave him one of those X-ray gazes he had obtained after the Bonding, sometimes frustrating, sometimes terribly endearing as Louis watched the alpha struggle to come up with an idea what might be wrong with his omega. Finally sighing in surrender, he said, “Alright. But if anything else comes up, I’m personally carrying you to the doctor’s office.”

They kissed quickly and Louis reveled in the number of people that now knew his man was taken.

The first one he had called in the following morning, had been his mother who had promptly got teary eyed, declaring she had seen it coming the moment six-year-old Louis had set eyes on four-year-old Harry and asked ‘why he is playing with Gemma’s dolls’.

After those sentiments, it had been Harry’s turn to call Anne who had given a similar reaction, although mentioning she had almost lost hope when Harry had turned twenty. The traitor of a twinge of guilt was there again and he proceeded to drown it by placing his chin on Harry’s shoulder and pecking his cheek.

Gemma had yet to see them together in person but she had declared them ‘overbearingly happy and sickeningly in love’ as a comment on Instagram. It had been a photo of Harry with his shirt off, making English breakfast for Louis who sat on the counter wearing a too big sweater and smiling like the cat that got the cream. And what came to other siblings, Louis’ sisters had told their objections about being ‘aunties’ before they had even reached twenty and asked them to keep the Baby Factory closed for a few years but still secretly wanting to have nieces and nephews to coo at.

He just had no idea they would be disappointed very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah,  
> A triple update? Nice...  
> Chapter 11 will be here by Wednesday and the whole story concluded by next Saturday.  
> I'm currently starting a new fic and you can check it out later (not an A/B/O but nanny!harry, famous!louis sort of thing)  
> Thanx again for the superb comments! Keep up the good work <3
> 
> Happy pride! xx -M


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I won't spoil anything. There is a football game, thou and ot5.

Harry was lying in their bed and thinking back to the week of complete bliss. No matter how many times Louis said he was the one who got to flaunt his Mate around London, the alpha insisted on being the luckiest one as not everyone got to Bond with their childhood crush and the love of their life. Maybe that was why he had turned a blind eye to what was happening around him.

It had started with the sex. After the sixth ‘not feeling like it’ Harry was left a bit rejected, being used to their earlier, more frequent love making; yet he still counted it as simply being sexed out – not that it happened often for it was quite uncommon with omegas.

Maybe they had just gotten over the honeymoon phase. Only, Harry was quite sure he would continue being as love truck by his Mate as he had been at the start.

Harry turned around, facing Louis’ side of the bed that, at the moment, was still disappointingly vacant and cold. He had woken up to find the bedsheets twisted and crumbled up at the food of the bed on the omegas’ side – nothing unusual in the distressing state of the sheets themselves – and no note on the pillow, containing their normal _‘I love u’_ s and _‘be back soon’_.

And now that the seed of doubt had planted, it would not be weeded. He pulled the covers over his head, creating a sanctuary from the daylight, but the pictures of Louis with someone other wouldn’t stop flashing through his mind. It was ridiculous, really, as the two of them were Mated and that kind of commitment was not broken so easily…he did admit to himself he had some sort of problems with his self-esteem and unhealthily easily triggered feeling of abandonment.

Without his consent the pictures just continued getting more and more vulgar as he was suddenly faced by a scene where Louis was pressed against the wall, reminding Harry of the way the bullies use to push their victims against the lockers, but there was nothing harassing going around, no – it was Louis pressed against the wall and the alpha before him thrusting into him, forcefully.

 _‘No, this is not real. Louis wouldn’t.’_ Harry pleaded, trying to reason with his brain that mockingly slowly got rid of the tormenting image, sluggish enough for him to hear Louis’ moans and leave them to reverberate around his head.

Harry woke up with a start, not realizing he had fallen asleep under the blankets, now stifling hot as the August sun had scorched them through the window. The uncomfortable feeling was undoubtedly only increased by the cold sweat from the dream; and as much as he wanted to just curl up and weep to his death, he considered showering being actually more productive.

When he finally got out of the shower – after having mindlessly stared at a specific corner of a tile and thinking anything and everything as long as it included the letters _FML_ – he heard a key turning in a lock. The alpha hastily grabbed a towel to put around his hips and opened the door to find his Louis shutting the front door behind him, an unfathomable smile spreading beautifully across his angelic face.

Too bad it disappeared the moment he saw Harry standing there.

“Were you shopping?” Harry asked, eyeing the plastic bag the omega was gripping – a bit protectively if you asked Harry – and he ignored the hit his heart received. Louis had never been this joyless about seeing him.

The said omega seemed to rush into an explanation. “Yeah, kind of. I woke up early. I didn’t feel that well.” He showed the logo of the apothecary on the side of the bag.

“You okay?” Harry asked. He was simultaneously ready to forgive Louis anything if being ill was the reason and scold at him for not waking him up. “It’s not serious, is it? Do you need to see doctor?” He took a step toward the omega to survey him for any deviation in his scent.

He’s heart received another blow as Louis took an avoiding step to the side. “I should be fine. As far as I know, I could be better than ever actually. I need to use the loo.” With a flash of Vans, the omega had scurried off and shut the bathroom door after him.

Even though there wasn’t any sense to hold a conversation with a door, Harry followed him, resting his forehead against the wooden material, listening to what happened in there just to be closer with his Boo. There was some shuffling and Harry swore he heard a cracking sound – like a packet being ripped open – after which there was a flush of the toilet.

Then it grew unnervingly quiet.

***

Harry was raising his fist to knock on the door when he heard the omega let out a voice, somewhere between an unmanly squeak and a sob. Just as his fist was about to connect with its target, it was downright ripped open and a grinning, loud ball of barely – as in, not at all – contained glee jumped and wrapped its legs around the alpha’s middle.

 _“Werhavnbby!”_ it said and Harry couldn’t for the life of him, understand what Louis was going on about.

Frowning, he asked, “How much tea have you drunk?”

“ _What?_ ” Louis was now looking a bit deflated. “It’s not good in my condition.” He answered and brought his left hand from where it had been wrapped around Harry’s neck and showed a white plastic stick to him.

Harry glanced at it and stared.

‘Pregnant 3+’

It was one of those moments when everything around you ceases to exist and those that still _are_ , move in slow motion – except the things that stole 367% your concentration. In Harry’s case: the pregnancy test shoved right under his nose and his allegedly tree weeks pregnant Mate who was starting to lose his beaming smile the longer his Hazza stayed unresponsive.

Snapping back into focus, Harry exclaimed, “Whoa, that’s…great! We are going to be- we are going to be _parents, Lou!?”_

“YES!”

Harry put his arms securely around Louis’ back and proceeded to twirl him around the room before coming to a screeching halt as he suspected such boisterous action might harm their baby. He quickly sat Louis down on the couch. “H-how?” was all he could utter out, and by some miracle – probably the new, extremely handy Bond connection they had – the omega understood exactly what he was asking despite the taciturn nature of his question.

“I think I might have missed a few birth control pills. I started to suspect it after I threw up yesterday.” Harry’s interrupting exclamation earned him a stern ‘be reasonable’ –glare. “I guess that after you turn twenty-three, you start taking every wave of sickness as symptom of pregnancy and I just. I just thought that why not. Because when I started to think about it, it all matched. The soreness, the changing flavors…so I after I got sick again this morning, I just fled to the shop.”

Harry tries to pout, a look of which was really hard to obtain when you are smiling so wide your cheeks cramp. “You could have at least left a message…”

“Sorry, Haz.” Louis said, having similar problems at getting his face to represent remorse while smiling harder than ever. “But I think I can make it up to you.”

Not understanding, Harry looked at his Mate and got from confused to aroused in 4.9 seconds flat. “I got my sexual appetite back.” the omega continued and steered them to the direction of the bed, hips swaying.

And so his angst attack at the shower was forgotten. _‘Fuck My Life? Rather: Fucking Magnificent Life.’_

***

On the next day, they discussed the plan of how to tell the families.

“I think I should call my mum. I really want to tell my mum.”

“I know, Hazza. But I would like to tell my mother the news personally and no offence, but I don’t trust Anne to keep from tweeting about it until I get to Donny.”

Harry scowled playfully. “Hey! She’s not that bad…”

“Ohhh, but she is exactly that bad.” Louis smirked. “I bet she will even add two or a dozen storks to get her point through.”

“Oh, sorry that was me. I’m just so excited.” Louis swatted the alpha with a pillow. They were – or rather, Harry was – doing the laundry with Louis spending most of the time atop the washing machine and giving constructive feedback to his Mate about the housework. It was a demanding job really; without him, the washing up would actually be a _chore_.

“Okay,” Harry started after running fingers through his hair, dragging out the word. “What if we both head to Donny before schools start? That way we can arrange a ‘party’ and then tell them all at the same time.”

“They will see through the bullshit immediately but getting them together for a brunch and then proceeding to try to get them to choke on their canapés by dropping the bomb is definitely the way I would do it.”

“Hilarious.” Harry mocked, dodging Louis’ foot that had just been about to hit the alpha’s adorable butt. After the last item had been put into the dryer, Harry turned around to face his omega. “How about multi-tasking? We could visit the parents after the Man U game next week? You know, we’ll be around there anyway. It’s not a long trip from Manchester to Donny.”

“Speaking like a true parent.” Louis teased, watching the pleased blushing rise to the alpha’s face. “Saving gas and all that jazz. It’s still one and a half hour.”

“Of course we’ll stop during the car ride if you get nauseous or anything. I don’t want it to be inconvenient for you.”

And thus Louis had reached his daily maximum dosage of pure cuteness. He pulled Harry to kiss him by the younger man’s shirt and enjoyed the way the kiss always felt so calming; a constant in his life. From their position, Louis found himself marveling how their tattoos aligned and he brushed his hand along the few of them. It really looked like they had matching tattoos and he couldn’t help but wonder if it had been unconscious decision – but that shit felt too romantic and couple-y to stomach.

“Is it weird that we match?” he eventually inquired.

Harry followed his line of gaze and his earlier blushing came back with a vengeance. “Don’t laugh.” He said at first and Louis quirked an eyebrow because did the alpha know him at all. Louis would promise nothing. Sighing, Curls continued, “Your twitter was not that hard to find…”

After Harry trailed off sheepishly, biting his lip, Louis was about to comment that his talk was starting to be as horrifyingly unintelligible as his tweets before he got the message. “You stalked my twitter?”

“Not in a creepy way,” Harry burst out defensively. “I just felt like I needed to be a little closer to you so I got countervailing tattoos with you.”

 _‘Ah, welcome Mr. Pinch of Guilt, it has been too long, my mate…’_ Louis thought sarcastically as Harry showed (once again) his ability to make Louis squirm in blameworthiness with single, off-handed comment about his Louis-less years. He returned to tracing the inked patterns with his finger and stopped at the rose that was on the exact same location as Louis’ dagger. It was quite funny how Louis, as the representative of the ‘most feminine’ biological status, had the more brutal one of the pair.

“Are you…you _so_ are laughing at me.” The alpha’s indignant voice resembled that of a four-year-old.

“Of course not. Now, let’s call the in-laws about the plans.”

***

The game was a blast. Louis had not enjoyed a good match of footie since Uni and now that his favorite team was playing, his joy couldn’t be contained. Also, the company of his newly found partners in crime was more than welcome as Niall was impossibly loud and more into the game than any of the others. Liam and Harry were equally interested but were left in the shadow of Nouis – a shipping name Niall just came up with – although the latter was more intent on Louis than on the game.

After a remarkably raucous happy dance from the two super fans, Harry pulled Louis securely into his arms, forcing him to sit on his lap.

“Really, Harold. I can’t see the field if you keep me imprisoned.” he said, trying to be heard through the screams and shouts as Manchester had just scored a goal in front of the home crowd. The whole mass of people were still standing and flailing around, blogging efficiently his view and forcing himself to face the back of an overweight supporter wearing the newest, red fan shirt.

“Lou, it might not be good for the baby if you jump around like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“And how exactly would I hurt something that is not even the size of a grape. I won’t be showing for two months.” Louis pointed out.

“No jumping.” said Harry, sounding stubborn and possibly petulant, and so Louis had to let the matter go. He did plan to avenge it later, he would just need inspiration.

Now that he looked at their mates sitting beside them, it was obvious that Zayn – as the most subdued one of the five – was taking it cool, sitting in his chair with his aviators on, and looking ready for a shoot for GQ or perhaps the men’s Vogue. He had claimed he had seen it coming when they told them about the baby.

Next to him, a bit more exited gleam in his brown puppy eyes, was Liam who was leaning a bit forward on his seat as if ready to jump up immediately after Man U scored again. He had just wished them luck and inquired after Louis’ wellbeing. Cute, really.

And then there was Niall. The Irishman had probably spent more time standing than sitting during the game and currently he was somewhere between, signaling zealously about something with his hands. The blondie was taking the game as seriously as some players on the field and it was actually funny to watch his expression of utmost disappointment when the post was hit and his manly fists-in-the-air pose after an opponent got red card for hitting some Man U player on the face with his elbow. Louis was worryingly out of it when he couldn’t _see_ the game.

The aforementioned beta had given the best reaction so far: _“Congrats! When do you think it learns to play FIFA? I could use another opponent.”_ To which harry had replied that they would make so many babies, they could gather up a real footie team. That did give Louis the needed inspiration.

He started to wiggle on Harry’s lap, half just for the fun of it, half because he wanted to see the field, but one hundred per cent intent on shifting distractingly in the alpha’s arms. First effects were starting to arise as Harry asked, “Louis, what are you doing?”

“Trying to see the game.” he answered innocently, while making sure his bum wiggles appropriately suggestively against his Mate’s crotch. That earned a groan from the Curly One. The omega continued with more fervor.

“Louis. Stop.” Harry pleaded, now noticeably hard under him. “If you don’t stop, we’re leaving.”

And if they did leave early, stopping at a vacant loo for a quickie, no one needed to know.

***

The plan to tell the parents was that there was no plan.

They had successfully convinced the families that the only reason for the visit was that they were already around and hadn’t seen them for weeks, not after they got Bonded. It apparently was a reason enough for Jay to put together a lavish dinner, including the drinks, the main courses and desserts. Too bad Louis wouldn’t be able to taste the expensive wine they had bought.

“Now, let’s raise our glasses for the young couple!” Anne proposed from the middle of the table, Jay standing on the opposite side and Harry and Louis seated on the end of the table while the girls were scattered around the remaining seats.

Louis put a hand atop the wineglass when Anne came to fill them. “Not for me. Sorry.”

“Not for me, either.” Harry said. “I’m driving.”

They got a few questioning looks when their glasses where filled with soda, the same the girls were drinking. Louis locked his gaze with his mum who was looking at him, calculating.

He gave her his signature raised brow, daring his mother to voice her thoughts. It was answered with a similar expression of questioning eye brow lift – it was a Tomlinson trait – and he gave Jay a small smiling nod.

The reaction was instant.

“Oh, Boo-bear…I’m so happy for you!” was his mother’s muffled cry while she squeezed her eldest child in a tight bear hug. At this point Anne had counted 1 + 1 = 2 after looking from the glasses of bubbling juice to the protective hand on Louis stomach and promptly attacked her son with question while trying to break a few of Harry’s ribs with her mummy hug.

“How long?”

“About four weeks.” Harry answered for Louis, a pleased blush rising on his cheeks. The omega had, at this point, been released from his mother’s clutches, only to be surrounded by his sisters, the twins wanting to touch the baby bump although it wasn’t there yet and Fizz and Lottie congratulating over the heads of their little sisters.

When the glasses where raised again, this time for the future grandchildren, Louis thought that this was how happy everyone should deserve to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo, fellow larries.  
> This was a bit longer than normal. Last chapter will be here by saturday EXCEPT IF YOU WANT AN EPILOGUE (CH 13). Anyone who wants a bit more of Mpreg Louis, raise your hand up now on the comment box! <3
> 
> Happy late St. Patricks Day for Niall and anyone else that luvs Ireland xx - M


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter before epilogue. Fluff and some pressing matters being discussed.

**DECEMBER 2015**

“I am happy to announce that today will be a movie day.”

Louis was sitting in front of the class, behind the teacher’s desk and he was doing his best to put the DVD into the player without bending too much, considering his stomach that was starting to show no matter what shirt he was wearing. He was glad there would be no teaching today as his mind was already set on his first ultrasound that was appointed later that day – and judging from the delighted screams, the students didn’t mind watching _the Sound of Music_ instead of slide shows or doing mimicry.

As the kids enthusiastically sought for better seats closer to the front of the glass and asking if it was alright to switch the lights off, he couldn’t help but find them very likable despite his frequent moaning about teenagers.

“And if anyone of you dicks thinks about sneaking out after I’ve left, I’ll tell you that Mr. Walker has nicely promised to check those present at the end of the glass.” There was a loud groan and some mumbling as it was widely known that the history teacher down the corridor could all but smell everyone who had thoughts of ditching a class.

Hitting play from the remote control, Louis checked the time from the computer. “Okay, class. I’ll have to leave now. Be nice, drinks are allowed but don’t spill them.”

“Bye!”

“Say hello to Harry for us.”

“Have a good weekend.” he wished while smiling at their antics.

As soon as he had stepped through the school’s front door in September, there had been a constant stream of questions – both from the teachers and the students. Everyone was, of course, curious how he got from single to Bonded and pregnant in just three months. There had been lots of shedder tears in the teacher’s lounge where he had – with great pleasure and exaggeration – told them a story of long lost college sweethearts finding each other after years of separation (he didn’t remember any longer if there had been an evil stepmother and several conspiracies involved but he did know the art teacher couldn’t look his baby bump without bursting into tears).

The students had been more interested in Harry himself than any sob story, so he had described him a bit – that being the reason they were so familiar with his name already – but that, too, had consisted mostly of exaggerated depiction. Louis admitted himself guilty, alright; he just didn’t want them to know any important things he would rather keep within the closed circles. Like the way he talked in his sleep or how he folded clothes when he put them to the hamper.

Louis had earned the full respect of the students after one obtuse being had taunted him about having a dry spell and ‘not getting the D’ to witch he had sassed that it would require moving the butt plug first. Obviously he didn’t have one – at the moment at least – but it got him some incredulous looks as the pupils were both impressed and embarrassed. Few had even clapped at him and he had done a deep bow in front of the room.

But really, he was just the coolest teacher a kid could ever get.

***

At four months pregnant, his stomach didn’t have the beautiful, full round shape of the fifth month but his tummy just above his hips was notably larger and fuller. And the one who said that four months was the milestone where morning sickness ended and cravings started, was completely right. Every pound he had lost while being slouched over the toilet seat and trying to heave his intestines out, was now getting back with a vengeance.

But otherwise this was the time for the pregnancy glow. Maybe Louis didn’t see it himself but if Harry’s clinginess was anything to go by, he must have looked luminous at the least. The alpha made it his job to comment on Louis’ hips, hair, stomach, eyes and collarbones every hour of every day – even if it was a text while he was teaching or a call if Curly’s lecture had ended or just ‘I luv u’ written on the misty mirror of the bathroom.

Otherwise his level of miserableness was around three on scale of 1-10; most definitely increased by the fact his new Vans didn’t fit his feet now that they had started swelling. Good news? Daily feet massage from his Mate – he had never loved him more.

It had been the best part of his pregnancy when he had gotten to see his baby for the first time. Despite the grainy quality of the ultrasound screen, it is surprisingly touching and earth shattering to actually be there, laying on the chair thingy and grasp that there really _is_ a living human being inside you right now. Someone whose live is at your hands, someone you wanted to just cuddle already.

Someone who was half you and half the person you loved more than your life, something you created together.

Louis was still trying to grasp the thing while standing sideways in front of his mirror, running his hands down the slope of his stomach, watching the movement of his hand from the reflection. He was worryingly quickly losing his tan and he contemplated whether they could arrange a speedy holiday and run away from the chilliness of English winter and embrace the sun that he hadn’t seen for a week.

Except, Harry probably wouldn’t let him board the plane…and speaking of the devil, Louis believed he had heard the now well-known sound of the shutter.

“I still think you could have found better object to take pictures of than my fat rolls.” he remarked, starting the months old, joking quarrel.

“Lou-u…,” the alpha whined, once again becoming quickly upset by the omega slighting himself. “You’re not fat, but pregnant. And what else should I have chosen to represent ‘the nine wonders of life’. It’s not my fault I think that you carrying our Lima Bean is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Louis always felt a surge of fondness when he heard Harry saying the name he had come up with for the child. It had started from his very first craving when Harry had been cooking, only to find half of the lima beans gone after Louis had eaten them as such. Well…their dinner had just turned a bit less bean-y than initially intended.

“I love you.” he said, wrapping his arms around his alpha’s middle.

“I love you, too,” Harry answered and pecked his forehead, having to bend a little – something that Louis was forever bitter about. It was just in his nature to be the bigger spoon (possibly because he _had_ been physically bigger in the earlier years when he still had had to protect his Hazza from the bad boys). “Now get on the bed.”

Louis raised his eyebrows in mock interest.

“No. Not like that,” Harry said, giving a pained exhalation. “Just lay in there and don’t do anything suggestive. This is a Uni project, not porn shoot.”

Louis giggled and gave himself a mental high five while flopping on to the bed, seeking a comfortable and natural position from where he monitored his Mates every movement and click of the camera.

He should negotiate himself a bit better conditions of employment as modeling while being nine months pregnant was going to be a torture. If he got that far.

He didn’t let his brain linger around that thought.

***

Louis was preparing to face another day of teaching as he wandered around the kitchen, weaving around Harry who was making them their traditional morning smoothies – of course, having insisted that Louis needed more vitamins to keep the baby healthy. The alpha wouldn’t take no for an answer even when he explained that the prenatal vitamins he had gotten were enough.

Actually, if their current situation would be appraised by an outsider, the one in the real need of vitamins would seem to be the curly haired lad. Because now that the morning sickness was over, it wasn’t Louis who woke up around 4 AM to throw up, no. It was Louis’ Mate who hauled himself out of the bed at ridiculous hours, just to humor Louis with any unlooked-for wishes for ice cream at midnight.

 _‘Yep, time to make up for all that puking…’_ he thought sarcastically as he watched his Haz almost fall asleep on the morning table. “Harold, seriously. Ditch the lecture. It’s not like you will learn anything by nodding off while the professors drone on.”

Harry rubbed his hands against his face. “M’not tired…”

“Sure, Mr. Alert.” Louis scoffed. “We’re lucky I have the car so you won’t fall asleep behind the wheel and crash it somewhere in the middle of London.”

Louis did have the car. It had been either that or the masses of people in the London underground and apparently his Mate found his driving skills more trustworthy than the commuters. So it had been decided that Louis was to have the car at his use.

He took another sip of the smoothie, wrinkling his nose at the taste, wondering how many bananas had the alpha put into this one.

“Oh…” Harry said suddenly, making Louis look up at him. Maybe he would finally realize he was not fit to even leave the house. “Jeff said hello.”

Louis smiled. Jeff was their new acquaintance who worked the nightshifts at a local grocery store who had watched Harry coming in and buying who knows what at the early morning hours before dawn. It had been the third trip when he had looked at Harry knowingly and then the friendship had advanced from the questions ‘First pregnancy?’ and ‘How far along?’ – Jeff himself having experienced it twice many years ago. There had even been some time to slip the baby pictures from the wallet to coo over.

 “I’m sure he has seen a lot weirder cravings than peanut butter and tuna sandwich, given his superior experience.” Louis said exasperatedly. He was definitely going to give this kid some culinary advices once he or she deigned to exit his body.

Harry had the nerve to snigger at him at the other side of the table after which Louis gave him the silent treatment for a quarter of an hour. At the last minutes the alpha began groveling around the table, kissing a path up the omega’s leg, spending most time on his bump and finally whispering to his neck. “I’m sorry, Lou-bear. You know that I would buy you pickles with caramel sauce if you just asked me to.” After considering his options, Louis nuzzled his cheek against the alpha’s head in a sign of forgiveness.

He felt Harry smile against his jugular. The little shit had been sure of his success.

He pushed his chair backwards, rising up from his seat. “Wipe that smug grin off your face, Curly. I have drama to teach, places to go.”

“Do you _have_ to use the spray again?” was the crestfallen inquiry of his pouting Mate who was still on his knees on the floor.

Louis sighed. “It’s the school rules, Harold. They can’t change them just because my scent gets you off.” At that, the alpha seemed interested.

“If I slept in and skipped the lecture,” Louis was 139% sure where this was going. The puppy eyes were already coming into existence. “Would you help me to get off when you return?”

“You better make it worth my while.” Louis said, taking the car keys from their place on the entryway.

***

Louis felt like he was ready for world domination but the just might settle for conquering the nursery where he was right now, lying on the blankets and looking at the so far plank walls.

The spare bedroom in Harry’s house had been a photo gallery of some sort yet the pictures had to step down when it came to spoiling their Lima Bean. Now that Louis was on his 16th week, the risk of miscarriage had lowered considerably and the omega had gone for a shopping spree for clothes, blankets and shoes – he would leave the paint and the decoration for Harry as he was the artist of the two of them.

Somehow he had gotten back parts of his normal hyped self and his energy levels where quite high for a change. He had Harry to thank for that, of course.

The doctor had warned him about the heartburns that usually started on the fourth month and Harry being his adorable self, had read all about it from the internet and had since then, cooked less greasy food and ordered Louis to drink appalling amounts of water.

But really, he didn’t find it in himself to complain about the constant need to have a wee if it meant he could enjoy being with his Mate without any discomforts, and protection for the eight inches long miracle of life – and no, he was not talking about Harry’s crotch. He was shortly awakened from those thoughts.

 “It was about a time you made my brother happy,” a voice said from the doorway of the soon-to-be nursery. “You are lucky you’re pregnant or else I would give you a good tongue-slashing.”

That lovely – although violent – lady was also known as Gemma Styles, Harry’s sister. It was quite clear she wasn’t as easily forgiving Louis for leaving her baby brother to fend for himself; no matter how many times Harry tried to explain they had been both at fault.

“If it’s any consolation, I’m planning on staying right here for the rest of my life.” he quipped from his position on the floor, just before Harry came to the door to announce that the lunch was ready.

“You had better not,” the alpha said, frowning at his Mate on the floor. “The hard floor might not be good for the baby.”

Louis would have taken that seriously if he hadn’t been in a jesting mood. “My dear Harold, one might think you only cared for the baby…” He propped himself up on his elbows in order to look at Harry. “My heart is breaking.”

His Mate came to his beside him, crossing his legs and leaning closer. “Of course not. You are just so linked to our Lima Bean at the moment that I might as well talk about you in one person.” Harry pecked his forehead. “And if I needed to pick either you or the baby, it would be you. Every time.”

Louis breath hitched. “You what!?” As much as he was a selfish being and wanted to prolong his time with his Hazza, there was a strong part of him that insisted on giving the baby the chance. Let the small child have the opportunity to see the sun, the world around him and see Harry’s smiles and feel his love. Louis had already been there twenty-four years.

“You and I could make lots and lots of babies in the future but there is only one of you. And I have enough previous experience to know it’s not a life without you.” Harry explained quickly, sensing Louis’ plans about refusing to continue his life.

“So you would rather have me feel like a murderer for not letting an innocent baby have a chance at life?”

The alpha’s chin started to wobble as he blinked rapidly, looking downwards. “It shouldn’t get that far. The maternal death rates are just 10/100,000 in the UK. It wouldn’t be fair-“ Harry’s voice broke.

Louis wrapped his arms around Harry. It was clear he had pushed poor Haz too far.

“Did I come at a bad time?” The question startled both of the hugging men, having forgotten the presence of Gemma altogether.

“No, we’re quite finished. And I’m hungry.” Louis disentangled himself from the hug but was stopped by Harry’s hand that was still gripping his wrist like a life line.

“I made marmite chicken.” he said, looking proud of himself.

“Why?” Gemma asked.

“Louis likes it” was the response and the case was closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola!  
> Epilogue coming as promised, there were lovely messaged about it. I don't know how I'm supposed to survive all those comments :)  
> I won't promise anything but this MIGHT be finished in about two days.  
> Sorry loves, but this is coming to an end. You could check my other stories, thou.
> 
> All the love xx -M


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happily ever after.

**MAY 2016**

Louis was again reconsidering all his life choices.

At nine months pregnant he was waddling around, feeling like a whale and probably being as attractive as one: he simply did not have the stamina to take long strides anymore – feeling like if he did, the baby would just to fall out of him if he opened his legs wide enough. And if he didn’t already feel pathetic enough, everyone held the door for him or gave up their seats because he just looked _that_ pathetic. That’s why he was currently surrendering himself to the feeling of angst while lying on the bed. It had been ages since he had enjoyed the simple pleasure of sleeping on your back without the baby trying to squash three or four of his vital organs.

“You’re feeling better?” Harry asked. The alpha had graciously agreed to give him back massage any time Louis it needed – witch was every time Harry was free. The poor thing had had to multi task by reading for his exams over Louis’ shoulder while rubbing the sore sport on his lower back.

“I think our Lima Bean is trying to do somersaults. Or would do, the space is getting a bit crowded.” At least she wasn’t pressing his lungs any longer. The eighth month had had him huffing and puffing and he couldn’t get from the car to the front door without having stop for a deep breath.

Yes. _She_. They had heard the news on their fifth month of the pregnancy and Louis had been absolutely delighted. He was now a number of steps closer to making the curly haired, blue eyed little girl of his day dreams their reality. Louis and Harry were ready for her – from the covered sharp edges of furniture to the finished nursery.

He moaned a bit as the alpha reached an especially sore spot and he couldn’t help the following spike of arousal that ran through him. The hormones had simply gotten him hornier than he remembered ever been and the unavoidable production of slick started to increase. The first time it had happened had nearly given him a seizure as he had misread the dripping slick as blood.

He felt Harry tense behind him. Louis, knowing what was to happen, snapped, “Don’t you dare to stop.”

The alpha sighed. “But Louis. What if it harms the baby?”

“I’ll let you know,” Louis said, turning around to face his Mate with a herculean effort, “that a womb’s protection is equal to that of a fortress. Even you won’t be able to poke the baby with that tool of yours.”

That was the reason of their recent quarrels, and the reason Louis had been bonding with his hands as of late. Harry had been under the completely _irrational_ and very aggravating fear about hurting the baby if they took part in any sort of intercourse.

“…I don’t know…” Harry said, rubbing a thumb in circles over the omega’s round stomach.

 _‘I’m sick of this shit.’_ Louis thought. The most important part of their intimacy – to Louis’ hormone addled brain, at least – was denied from him and he would do his everything to get it back. “So, you don’t find me attractive anymore?”

“Jesus, Louis! Of course not. I would keep you pregnant forever if it was up to me…” Harry trailed off, seemingly lost in his thoughts. “If…if we are very, _very_ carefully, I think we could try it.”

Louis smirked and pulled the alpha closer by his curls, leaving Harry to contemplate if he had just been tricked.

 _Everything_ was fair in love and pregnancy.

***

If Louis’ misery level had been about three on his fourth month, the scale didn’t even suffice to the immeasurable discomfort he was feeling right now.

It was not just about the physical feelings. As soon as he got his maternity leave (was paternity a thing?), he had gotten calls from whoever considered themselves important enough to get to know whether the bun was out of the oven yet. Somehow, when it came to pregnancy, all personal boundaries ceased to exist – thankfully he had Harry to growl at the creepiest harassers and enough sass to get the most persistent quit.

He had fully considered buying an answer machine to give the strenuous ‘ _not yet_ ’s and hang up on those who insisted on giving their opinion about baby names – especially Nick Dickshaw whose suggestions came more and more hair rising. They would _not_ name their baby girl Chastity.

_“How about…Bodacious?”_

“No.”

_“Hashtag?”_

“Nope.”

_“Chlamydia?”_

“No, Nick!”

_“North West?”_

“NO! Definitely not gonna pull the gardashians…”

There was a suffering sigh from the other end of the line. _“You are cranky today, Mr. Tomlinson.”_

“Soon-to-be Styles, if I may.” They had gotten engaged with Harry along the ride and it had been perfect. If anyone asked, he would say it was too cheesy but secretly he had loved every second of it. There had been a bubble bath, rose leaves and a candle lit dinner and suddenly the curly haired little shit had been on his knees and Louis had been reduced to a snottily crying mess (and he blamed the hormones).

 _“Ah, right. Let me point out my sincere congratulations. Has Harreh kept you up all night? Made some midnight memories?”_ Louis nearly heard the suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

“Ha-hah.” Louis indeed had slept poorly but mostly because their Lima Bean had no respect for getting a good night’s sleep. And on the other hand, he found it equally difficult when all he could do was obsess over the list of things he needed to accomplish before their girls arrived.

Never before had he thought he would be this neat and systematical. Part of the nesting, his doctor had said.

Moreover, most of his midnight memories were about the pregnancy dreams you got on the last trimester. If you were lucky, they turned out to be crazy sex dreams. Louis swore he had seen Chris Hemsworth in one. And if he got to decide about it, Harry or anyone else would not hear a thing.

With a perfect timing, the alpha got through the door, curly hair wind swept as he had just walked from the nearest underground station to home. Louis finally had the excuse to end the obnoxious call.

“How was Uni?” he asked, while Harry came to give his trade mark peck on the omega’s forehead.

“The usual. I would have rather been here. What if your water broke while I’m away?”

“Then, I would have called Marie from the neighbor to give me a lift to the hospital as we discussed. Stop worrying.” Louis pecked him back, although with more effort as it wasn’t easy to get up on your toes when you had gained about twenty pounds in weight.

“You know, I lo…,” Louis had heard that before. It was Curly’s favorite reasoning. “…love these pants.”

 _‘What?’_ That was new. Louis had been left to wear elastic-waisted yoga pants after any other clothing option seemed to press his stomach area uncomfortably. The other plus seemed to be that Harry couldn’t keep his eyes – or his hands –away from him.

And it was a good thing. It was usually at these stages that you threw all care about appearances to the air and start getting self-conscious about the fat accumulating on your but it didn’t seem to throw his Mate off, no. It actually looked like he was seconds away from having his way with him.

Louis purred. Maybe this was heading into something…

***

Harry was over the moon as he vacuumed the house, watching his omega, his _fiancé,_ sleep on the couch.

God, he couldn’t believe how he had gotten so lucky.

They had had to accustom themselves out of the big spoon-little spoon-roles as the growing baby got in the way of their usual arrangement but still the omega had a decorative pillow squished against his chest. Judging from his smile, he was dreaming of something very pleasing. Harry wondered for a while if it was him or the baby and found himself not that interested in the answer – if someone deserved to replace him in Louis’ thoughts, it would be their baby girl.

He returned in to his cleaning.

Louis had surprisingly been the one to initiate it but quickly the weight of the baby was too much and Harry had had to talk him out of it. The omega had promptly got into his current position and hadn’t moved from it since then.

And Harry did know how hard it was for Louis to sleep nowadays. No matter how tired he was from getting the house baby-proofed.

Actually their recent preparing had just consisted of polishing every texture and surface that would possibly attract the attention of Lima Bean. The nursery had been ready for a month now – nothing short of a room fit for a princess – and all sharp objects had been placed within a unreachable distance for anyone under four feet.

And since the baby would come any day now, the hospital bag was ready. Harry still remembered the conversation they had about it…

_“Lou, are you sure you need lip balm and shampoo?” he asked, looking at the products in question with an incredulous look._

_“Yes!” the omega snapped, “Hospitals are very dry, may I point out and I would rather have you kiss me when my lips aren’t ready to split apart due to drought. And when I get my post-labor shower, I’m going to want to smell like something other than the industrial hospital shampoos. ”_

_The alpha’s lips twisted. “Alright, then. So, we have the insurance info…hospital forms…are we forgetting anything?”_

_“Are my socks there?” asked Louis, half way buried into the closet. Oh, the irony._

_Socks? “Uh, yeah. Why is there this non-skid thing on them?”_

_“Because the hospital is not going to give over any shoes to walk with. I need something warm on my feet and preferably something that I won’t slip with.” Then glancing at his Mate over his shoulder, Louis pointed out, “Trust me, I’ve seen my mother go through this four times.”_

_“Right.” Harry rather thought he would have come up with the right reason if he wasn’t so nervous._ This _was his fist time after all. “Toothbrush, toothpaste and hairbrush are here, too, along with my change of clothes.”_

_“Good.” A sweater was thrown, barely avoiding hitting his in the face. “Oops, pack also that one. I don’t want to get chilly.”_

_Harry spread the clothing on the bed and folded the sweater before putting it in with the rest of the clothes. He then proceeded to grab the camera._

_“Oh God, you are not seriously taking that with us?” Louis looked more than horrified._

_“Louuu…it is the most important moment of our lives. You can’t just refuse to let me capture it!”_

_A sigh. “Fine. But you better growl at anyone who points out how hideous I look after several hours’ long labor.”_

_“I’ll make sure they regret the day they were born.” The alpha swore with overacted air but not completely kidding._

***

The nine months of pregnancy had been an eye opener for Harry.

Even during the official dating, it had seemed like Louis had been the one in control of the relationship – both the one with the keys to open the door to it, and the one with the water to quench the fire of it. Maybe that had been the reason he had always felt so uncertain, so afraid of being left, because the way he saw it, Louis was perfectly fine on his own.

But now? Now he had seen Louis let the control slip – the control that had built after years of looking after siblings – and give Harry his chance to show the valuable things he could do, the ones the relationship could not be without.

For the last three months he had cleaned the house, driven the car, cooked them food – it all made him feel useful, _needed_.

And finally he could face the mirror every day, smile at his reflection because it was not the same loser any longer that looked at him back. It was someone who had a husband, a family and love. Lots of love. It was the time to glance at the old scars at his wrist, acknowledge the needlessness behind them and scoff at the days behind.

People who said _‘all the good will come in time to those who wait’_ knew what they were talking about. Everything came to you when you had enough will and patience to wait for it as he had learned the hard way.

He now had Louis with him for eternity. Louis was here to stay. So was Darcy Styles (and many other after that)...

**THE END**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for staying with me and the story. You are all ah-mazing! Pic is not mine but adorablefuckers.tumblr.com (?)  
> Comments anyone? No? All ready grown bored with me?
> 
> Happy elounonono for you all xx -M

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiiii there!  
> This is sort of the prologue but I won't use chapter titles on this one...yet :)
> 
> I'm trying to update twice a week (these first chapters are generally a bit shorter so it could be trice). Hope you like it.
> 
> All the love xx -M


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